Audubon's Birds/BIRDSVER1_3.BIN/dp/0063/00632.txt

Text File | 1992-08-27 | 26KB | 371 lines

$Unique_ID{BRD00632}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Blue Heron}
$Subject{Ardeinae; Ardea; Egretta; Coerulea; caerulea; Blue Heron; Little Blue
Heron}
$Journal{Birds of America:  Volume VI}
$Volume{Vol. 6:148-156}
$Family{Ardeinae}
$Genus{Ardea; Egretta}
$Species{Coerulea; caerulea}
$Common_Name{Blue Heron; Little Blue Heron}
$Log{
Plate CCCLXXII*00632P1.scf
Family*00621.txt
Genus*00622.txt
}

       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       B I R D S   O F   A M E R I C A .

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. SS. L. & E.

                   ------------------------------------------
                                   VOL.  VI.
                        --------------------------------


                                  BLUE HERON.
                              [Little Blue Heron.]


                             ARDEA COEPRULEA, Linn.
                              [Egretta caerulea.]


                     PLATE CCCLXXII.--ADULT MALE AND YOUNG.


     Along with a few other Herons, this is, comparatively speaking, confined
within narrow limits along our southern coast in winter.  It occurs, however, in
most parts of the Floridas, where it is a constant resident, and whence, at the
approach of summer, vast multitudes are seen proceeding northward, in search of
suitable places in which they may rear their young in security.  Many, however,
go southward, beyond the limits of the United States, and proceed coastwise to
Texas and Mexico to spend the winter, especially the younger birds, when still
in that singular white plumage which differs so much from that of the young of
every other known species of this genus, except that of the Reddish Egret (A.
rufescens).  At New Orleans, where it arrives at the same period, both from
Mexico and the Floridas, its first appearance in spring is about the beginning
of March; at which time also multitudes leave the Floridas on their way
eastward, to settle in Georgia, the Carolinas, and other States farther east, as
far as Long Island in that of New York.  Beyond this, I believe, no birds of the
species have been met with.  They rarely, if ever, proceed far inland, or leave
the shores of our large rivers and estuaries.  On the Mississippi, the swamps
and lakes on the borders of which are so well adapted to the habits of these
birds, few individuals are ever seen above Natchez.  About the beginning of
September, by which time the young are able to shift for themselves, they return
southward.
     When in the Floridas, during winter, I observed that the Blue Herons
associated with other species, particularly the White Heron, Ardea Egretta, and
the Louisiana Heron, Ardea Ludoviciana, all of which were in the habit of
roosting together in the thick evergreen low bushes, that cover the central
parts of the islands along the coast.  Their passage to and from their feeding
places, is as regular as the rising and setting of the sun, and, unless
frequently disturbed, they betake themselves every night to the same locality,
and almost to the same spot.  In the morning, they rise with one accord from the
roosts on which they have been standing all night on one leg, the other drawn up
among the feathers of the abdomen, their neck retracted, and their head and bill
buried beneath their scapulars.  On emerging from their retreats, they at once
proceed to some distant place in search of food, and spend the day principally
on the head waters of the rivers, and the fresh-water lakes of the interior,
giving a decided preference to the soft mud banks, where small crabs or fiddlers
are abundant, on which they feed greedily, when the inland ponds have been dried
tip, and consequently no longer supply them with such fishes as they are wont to
feed upon.
     There, and at this season, reader, you may see this graceful Heron, quietly
and in silence walking along the margins of the water, with an elegance and
grace which can never fail to please you.  Each regularly-timed step is lightly
measured, while the keen eye of the bird seeks for and watches the equally
cautious movements of the objects towards which it advances with all imaginable
care.  When at a proper distance, it darts forth its bill with astonishing
celerity, to pierce and secure its prey; and this it does with so much
precision, that, while watching some at a distance with a glass, I rarely
observed an instance of failure.  If fish is plentiful, on the shallows near the
shore, when it has caught one, it immediately swallows it, and runs briskly
through the water, striking here and there, and thus capturing several in
succession.  Two or three dashes of this sort, afford sufficient nourishment for
several hours, and when the bird has obtained enough it retires to some quiet
place, and remains there in an attitude of repose until its hunger returns.
During this period of rest, however, it is as watchful as ever, and on hearing
the least noise, or perceiving the slightest appearance of danger, spreads its
wings, and flies off to some other place, sometimes to a very distant one.
About an hour before sunset, they are again seen anxiously searching for food.
When at length satisfied, they rise simultaneously from all parts of the marsh,
or shore, arrange themselves into loose bodies, and ascending to the height of
fifty or sixty yards in the air, fly in a straight course towards their roosting
place.  I saw very few of these birds during the winter, on or near the river
St. John in Florida; but on several occasions met with some on small ponds in
the pine barrens, at a considerable distance from any large stream, whither they
had been attracted by the great number of frogs.
     The flight of the Blue Heron is rather swifter than that of the Egret,
Ardea candidissima, and considerably more so than that of the Great Blue Heron,
Ardea Herodias, but very similar to that of the Louisiana Heron, Ardea
Ludoviciana.  When the bird is travelling, the motion is performed by flappings
in quick succession, which rapidly propel it in a direct line, until it is about
to alight, when it descends in circular sailings of considerable extent towards
the spot selected.  During strong adverse winds, they fly low, and in a
continuous line, passing at the necessary distance from the shores to avoid
danger, whether at an early or a late hour of the day.  I recollect that
once, on such an occasion, when, on the 15th of March, I was in company with my
friend JOHN BACHMAN, I saw a large flock about sunset arising from across the
river, and circling over a large pond, eight miles distant from Charleston.  So
cautious were they, that although the flock was composed of several hundred
individuals, we could not manage to get so much as a chance of killing one.  I
have been surprised to see how soon the Blue Herons become shy after reaching
the districts to which they remove for the purpose of breeding from their great
rendezvous the Floridas, where I never experienced any difficulty in procuring
as many as I wished.  In Louisiana, on the other hand, I have found them equally
vigilant on their first arrival.  On several occasions, when I had placed myself
under cover, to shoot at some, while on their way to their roosts or to their
feeding grounds, I found it necessary to shift from one place to another, for if
one of them had been fired at and had fallen in a particular place, all that
were in its company took care not to pass again near it, but when coming up
diverged several hundred yards, and increased their speed until past, when they
would assume their more leisurely flappings.  In South Carolina, where they are
very shy on their arrival, I have seen them fly off on hearing the very distant
report of a gun, and alight on the tops of the tallest trees, where they would
congregate in hundreds, and whence they would again fly off on the least
apprehension of danger.  But when once these Herons have chosen a place to
nestle in, or reached one in which they bred the preceding year, they become so
tame as to allow you to sh