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« on: 27-Aug-09, 06:07:04 AM » |
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Surviving heron to be released in wild
NewS.33.20090824115318.IMG_1522HeronAug22_09_20090826.jpg
THE MALE heron has grown significantly since last seen on the project’s blog website. This photo of the heron was taken last Saturday at the Prince Rupert Wildlife Rehab Shelter. The heron is planned to be released back into the wild this Friday Aug. 28.
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By Molly McNulty - Terrace Standard
Published: August 25, 2009 11:00 PM
AFTER A deadly attack on their nest, one of the two surviving baby Blue Herons will be released into the wild this week.
Only two out of an original five baby Blue Herons are alive, with an attack on their nest playing out live via webcam for thousands of viewers.
The Great Blue Heron project involved a webcam aimed directly at a heron nest and was launched earlier this year by the Applied Coastal Ecology (ACE) program of the Prince Rupert campus of Northwest Community College (NWCC).
The goal was to collect information on the local herons as data is currently only available from herons in the south.
On June 2, out of those five eggs only four hatched, as viewers watched and bonded with the young birds in their first moments of life.
From there a huge online following began with people tuning in daily.
Professor of environmental biology and geography at the Rupert campus Pouyan Mahboubi says that he wasn’t expecting such a large following.
To his surprise, they had 35,000 viewers in a month and a half.
“I was really surprised, I thought we’d probably have maybe 100 or so,” says Mahboubi, adding that people were tuning in from as far as Texas and Eastern Canada.
But after four weeks or so, things took a turn for the worst.
About a month after hatching, it became apparent to viewers that the adult herons had been absent for three days.
During that period, one chick died due to starvation and the public began to demand human intervention.
“There was no way to get to the nest without disturbing [the area],” says Mahboubi, adding that there were other nests farther up the tree, which they did not want to disturb.
It was on July 1 that the adult herons returned, when only minutes later, the nest was attacked by a pair of eagles, who first ate the chick who died of starvation.
In an attempt to save themselves, the remaining three chicks jumped from the nest.
Two chicks landed on twigs farther down the tree, while the third fell the ground and was quickly retrieved and brought to a rehab facility on Salt Spring Island.
The other two remained on the lower branches. One chick hung on for a day or two but fell and died.
The last chick hung on for three days before falling, where it was swiftly rescued and brought to the Prince Rupert Wildlife Rehab Shelter.
Mahboubi explains that during that time the public wanted a swift rescue of the chicks, but adds that it could only be done once they fell to the ground, in order to not disturb the natural habitat.
One question the viewers could not understand was why the eagles attacked right after the parents returned.
Mahboubi doesn’t have any definite answers, but thinks that perhaps the parents stayed away for that long length of time because they knew the eagles were trying to follow them to their nest.
Therefore after the three days away, they had to return, which led the eagles straight to the chicks.
After the massacre, the camera was moved farther up the tree to an occupied heron nest.
“It has been very dramatic, there’s people that really bond with animals, it’s an interesting dynamic,” says Mahboubi.
Death is very much the natural course for these young chicks, being that their historical survival rate has been one in four and moved to one in eight in 2008.
And for Mahboubi, this was his prediction before the eggs even hatched.
“I said I expect to see an eagle come in, it’s statistically what we think will probably happen,” says Mahboubi, and adds that with people logging on every day, it became more than watching a wildlife show.
“[People] developed a relationship with the prey,” says Mahboubi.
The two surviving herons are alive and well at the moment, with the one male located in Rupert being released this Friday.
Nancy Golinia, who operates the shelter with her husband Gunther, says that they will release the heron in an area where wild heron are located.
The predictions are that he will imitate the wild heron and make the adjustment from captivity.
Nancy says that he’s been one of the nicest herons that they’ve raised.
She also said that he will be a great asset to the wild, as he would be a first choice candidate if there was a heron breeding program. The chick on Salt Spring Island is also doing well, says Nancy, and she can’t talk highly enough of the work they do there.
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