A Territorial Dispute Between Great Blue Herons

A good number of Great Blue Herons have shown up at El Rio Preserve

The town of Marana recently sponsored a Dragonfly and Damselfly walk at El Rio that was led by Jeff Babson. I signed up for it knowing what a great educator Jeff is and looking forward to learning a bit about other members of our desert wildlife. When I arrived at El Rio at 7 AM, I saw that there were six Great Blue Herons there! That's a large number of those very large birds. The first one we saw was trying to cool off in the already hot, early morning sun!!

After a short while this bird flew down to the water. It seemed as if the water level was lower than usual, making the entire preserve a better place for these big wading birds to find food. Great Blue Herons are America's largest herons, measuring 3 to 4½ feet long, beak to tail. I could not find any definitive information on the length of a Great Blue Heron's legs but one estimate places its legs at 16" - 20". The water was shallow all across the preserve and this bird was belly deep in the water.

Later, on another side of the Preserve, a Great Blue Heron was perched on a dead tree. If you look at the previous photo and the following two photos, you can see these large wading birds in their typical poses. They stand tall and have long, S-shaped necks. Birdnote shares more on this large bird.

https://www.birdnote.org/podcasts/birdnote-daily/regal-great-blue-heron

The bird on the dead tree flew into the water to go fishing. Again, its pose is typical of Great Blue Herons. It stands tall and moves slowly in search of an unsuspecting fish or bullfrog.

Suddenly, I noticed another Great Blue Heron approaching from the right. It had been hidden behind another island. You can see a very different pose by this bird. This bird is not looking for fish. This bird is not being casual. This bird is on a mission. It doesn't like the idea of the other bird dropping into "its" territory. This Great Blue is poised to attack. It slowly and deliberately inched forward.

And then, it pounced!!! It appeared to be walking on water as it leapt towards the intruder!!

The chase was powerful and earnest. There was no hesitation or doubt.

The intruding Great Blue and another nearby one both took flight towards the other side of the preserve, very far away, The aggressive Great Blue Heron watched to make sure neither bird circled back. It remained alert and did not return to a relaxed posture right away.

As soon as it was certain that the other two Great Blues were, for the moment, gone for good, this bird turned and slowly strolled back to its original location.

The water was shallow at this side of El Rio, only knee-deep. Certainly, this Great Blue Heron felt it had the best part of the Preserve to stay in and it made sure there was no other bird to compete for any prey there.

As always, if you are interested in learning more the Cornell Lab's AllAboutBirds is a great resource for information about Great blue Herons or any other bird.