The Great Blue Heron Challenge

Step off the trail either just before or just behind the trail kiosk.

Great blue herons have keen eyesight and can spot incredible things in a salt marsh. They’re always searching for food. Can you become a curious heron and discover some of the neat things in the marsh?¹¹ Can you find heron food? If you are really clever, you’ll figure out a heron’s favourite food.

Herons are blue and gray with black feather plumes above their eyes. Put on the proper colours:

Paint black “eyebrows” on your forehead.
Paint blue and gray streaks on your face.
Wear your blue or gray clothes.

Their call is: “Quonk! Quonk! Quonk!” Try it.

This special oath can help you change into a heron. Take turns kneeling before the tree and repeat these magic words:

“With heron legs I want to walk.
With heron eyes I’ll see.
With a heron voice instead of talk.
A great blue heron I’ll be.”

Do the heron pounce to find small neat creatures on the ground:

Drop suddenly to the ground.
Push the leaves aside and search with your keen eyes.
Examine what you find. Would you eat it?

Do You Know – Great Blue Herons

The great blue heron is one of the largest wading birds in North America and occasionally lives up to 20 years. They inhabit Nova Scotia from April to October and fly as far south as Central America in the winter. They are voracious eaters and enjoy fish, frogs, birds, eggs and small mammals. They hunt by remaining motionless for long periods and then pouncing with incredible speed when their prey comes close. They can also stalk prey while moving so slow that they seem still, yet their position changes over many minutes. They nest in colonies that can have several hundred pairs in the late winter or early spring. The major threats to blue herons are habitat destruction of feeding grounds and logging in nesting areas.