Living in the Puget Sound of the Pacific Northwest we are blessed with a large population of Great Blue Herons.  We see them along the coast line, in the estuaries, lakes and streams, anywhere there’s shallow water. They stand absolutely still at the edge of the water, or wade very slowly in the shallow water. Sometimes the Great Blue Heron takes several minutes for each step. Watching them move their legs so very slowly and carefully is amazing. They move so slowly and carefully through the swallow water looking for their next meal. Once they find their next meal they then move with amazing speed to stab their prey with a quick lunge of their bill. Although the Great Blue Heron eats primarily fish, they also eat invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, birds and small mammals. Several studies have found that mice are a very important part of their diet.

Great Blue Herons are predators of both salt and fresh water shallows, marshes, swamps, mud flats, and other wetlands. Blue Herons are a member of the Ardeidae family which also includes britterns and egrets. They are the largest and most widespread heron in North America.  They nest usually in trees near water, but colonies can be found away from the water. Their nest consists of a large platform of sticks, lined with pine needles, moss, reeds, dry grass, or twigs. The nests are usually placed high in trees, but can occasionally be found on the ground.  Great Blue Herons normally nest in colonies, but sometimes a pair can be found nesting alone.  From 2 to 6 eggs are laid in the nest which are a dull blue color.  When the chicks hatch they are a covered in pale gray down. Their eyes are open and the chick can hold its head up after hatching.

Adult Great Blue Heron has a length of 38 to 54 inches, a wingspan of 65 to 79 inches and weigh 74 to 88 ounces.  The Great Blue Heron has suffered less from plume hunters and pesticides then other herons so their numbers have remained strong across North America.  Get out now and look in the areas of swallow water in your area and enjoy watching the Great Blue Heron.

We have recently had several birds fly from our feeders into our sliding glass door that goes from our dining room to the backyard.  We have not had this happen before so have begun to do some research to determine why. Modern homes and office buildings today are often built using insulated and reflective glass. These windows may look great and be very pleasing for humans, but they are lethal to your feathered friends. Birds cannot distinguish the difference between the real sky and the reflection of the sky in a window. Especially during the migration season, millions of birds throughout North America fly into windows and are seriously injured or killed each year.  Migration isn’t the only time that birds have window collisions. Birds may also hit your windows or glass doors during the breeding season and even during the winter.

During the breeding season male woodpeckers, mockingbirds and cardinals may see their own reflections in the window or car mirror and want to “fight” it. They will stop banging your window or door glass as the breeding season comes to an end.

In our case living in the Pacific Northwest our backyard is in shade most of the time. Linda was having trouble growing some of her plants in her Serenity Garden. To solve this problem we had to remove several trees.  The new sunlight in Linda’s Serenity Garden was great for the plants, but was now causing a reflection off the back sliding glass door.

How can we reduce the reflection on our glass door? Life-size, animate “scare birds” such as plastic owls or falcons do not work. Even owl or falcon silhouettes attached to windows with suction cups are not very effective deterrents.  Window or door screens and bird netting are effective in breaking up the reflection of large glass windows and doors. Our problem is we have a sliding glass door and only one half of the door glass is covered by the screen. The half not covered is where the birds fly into. Planting trees or high bushes or shrubs to block the sunlight from reflecting in the glass door was not an option, since we had just removed trees to allow sunlight into the yard.

The solution was to move the feeders closer to the house. Now the birds do not get up to flight speed before they fly into the window. Since moving the feeder we did see one bird fly into the glass door, then after striking it, turn sideways and fly away. If you have space moving the feeders a considerable distance away from your home is another option.

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