Bird migration changing - Great Blue Heron

[AlaskaDenise]

Heron sightings brighten Potter's Marsh

A great blue heron has been spotted at Potter Marsh during the past week, fishing in the sloughs and walking on the logs in the water. Although its northern range includes some parts of Prince William Sound and Kachemak Bay, Anchorage is uncommon grounds for it.


Fran Durner / Anchorage Daily News

story - http://www.adn.com/

photo - http://www.adn.com/photos/story/9753...978244-t3.html

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There are several more pictures of this Heron at that location just out of Anchorage. It has been unseasonably warm, until a few days ago.

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[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Bird migration changing - Great Blue Heron

Normal range:

http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?cid=7&id=43

Distribution of the Great Blue Heron


The Great Blue Heron has the widest distribution in Canada of all herons: it ranges from the Maritime provinces in the east across southern Canada to the Pacific Ocean, and north along the entire length of the British Columbia Pacific coast to Alaska?s Prince William Sound in the west (see map). While it breeds in all provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador, this bird spends the winter in Canada only on the British Columbia coast and in parts of the Maritime provinces. Most birds move south for the winter, and banded birds from Canada have been found in Mexico, Honduras, and Cuba. Colonies of Great Blue Herons are also found in Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador?s Galapagos Islands.

Great Blue Herons migrate alone or in groups of three to 12 and sometimes up to 100. They travel day and night. Spring migrants return to most Canadian locations in April. Some fly north in summer to arctic Alaska, southern Yukon, and northern Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec. They migrate south from mid-September to late October.


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[gsgs]

Re: Bird migration changing - Great Blue Heron

tell us when they start migrating into genbank