rss

April 2022

Vol. 50, No. 2

Field Notes: Great Blue Walkabout

Jeffrey Boone Miller

What the heck? On July 6, 2021, as I was driving slowly toward the back exit of Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I was flabbergasted when a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) flew just a foot or two over the hood of my car. The bird landed 20 feet away and began walking on the grass among the cemetery’s headstones. In decades of birding, I had never seen a Great Blue walking anywhere other than along the edges of ponds and marshes, but we were at least 500 feet from Willow Pond, the nearest body of water. What, I thought, is that bird doing? I resolved to see if could find out.

To view the rest of the article you'll need to subscribe. Bird Observer publishes original articles on birding locations, on avian populations and natural history, on regional rarities, field notes, field records, photographs, and art work.
© Copyright 2024 Bird Observer, Inc. and Eric Swanzey.
Website code/design/development by Swanzey Internet Group LLC.
Supporting photography by Just Your Nature.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Use