Herony

When Nature Calls Earl Plato
A favourite evening drive out to Point Abino and the Bertie Boat Club often involved seeing a solitary Blue Heron feeding near the outlet of the Abino drainage ditch. Then one evening about ten p.m. the late Harvey Hollsworth called. “Earl. There’s at least ten Blue herons in the bay!” We counted eleven Blue herons that night. Usually solitary feeders Harvey said they flew in from the north all evening. What gives? Maybe the annual run of those small fish, the smelts.
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We once had a huge Great blue herony in Stevensville to the north of Bowen Road. Tree cutters came in and took the largest trees and destroyed the herony. This article is my look at this phenomenal site before those destructive days.
We called the herony-Schneider’s Herony. We had asked permission to enter the wetland area where the heron nests were located. We had counted at least eighteen huge nests from Bowen Road. We had to navigate puddles of water as we entered the woods. The sight that unfolded was amazing!’ ”They’re at least forty nests in here!” As we walked around we counted twenty more. Our count was sixty plus!
I had counted 25 heron nests across the border in Alabama Swamp near Lockport N.Y. Stevensville was the greater site .
The nests were rough structures. Blue herons lay 3-5 pale greenish blue eggs. The pair line the nest with finer material on a platform of sticks. Have you heard the hoarse, guttural squack of this giant bird? One tree at Scneiders had five nests in it. Imagine the noise from just this one nesting tree let alone close to fifty others during nesting time.
During that next year through the winter the nesting trees were cut down. Man needs his profit. I have wondered as those giant majestic birds returned north from their migration and found their herony decimated where did they go. I know a few sites but nothing like the Schneider site. Great memories!