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Great Blue Heron
Ardea herodias
The Great Blue Heron is a
widespread year round resident of the Pacific Coast of North
America. It lives along the seashore from southern Alaska to
Baja California and across North American from southern Canada
to northern Mexico. Herons depart parts of Canada and northern
United States that freeze in winter for the southern USA,
Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America or northern South
America.
The
Pacific Coast has two subspecies of Great Blue Heron. Ardea
herodias fannini resides year round along the northeast
coast of the Pacific. In a paper published in the 2004 volume of
Northwest Naturalist, Bob Dickerman suggested that A.
h. fannini should be restricted to the Queen Charlotte
Islands and southeast Alaska. He based his conclusion on
measurements and plumage colouration. The Queen Charlotte Island
heron is the smallest and darkest of the coastal subspecies. If
accepted, the heron along the south coast of British Columbia
and Washington will need to be renamed. He also suggested that
the Oregon and California coast herons are the subspecies A.
h. herodias which is found across the continent. He did not
consider the Great Blue Heron on the Galapagos. There will soon
be some DNA analysis of coastal herons to examine the taxonomy
further.
For more on the Great Blue Heron visit the
Pacific WildLife Foundation |
