Photo by: Steven Pinker at http:\/\/pinker.wjh.harvard.edu\/photos\/Florida\/pages\/great%20blue%20heron.htm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nJust a few days ago one of my most loyal readers requested a Wild Fact on the Great Blue Heron.\u00a0 Since this reader is my mom, I pretty much had no choice but to create a Wild Fact about the Blue Heron. Even if you aren’t my mom, I welcome any and all suggestions about future Wild Facts.\u00a0 Don’t be shy just state your favourite animal and I will do my best to come up with an intresting adaptation for that creature.<\/p>\n
On with today’s fact!\u00a0 For those of you who are not aware of the Great Blue Heron, let me take a second to describe some characteristics.\u00a0 The Great Blue Heron is a shore bird with very long legs that can often be seen wading in marshes or along the shorelines of lakes.\u00a0 They feed predominantly\u00a0 on fish but may also consume rodents among other animals.\u00a0 Although, the great blue heron is a solitary hunter they tend to live in colonies that can be quite large. Another interesting fact about the blue heron is the size of their wing span.\u00a0 Believe it or not the wing span of this incredible bird is around 2 m (6′).\u00a0 This makes it an absolute joy to watch these majestic birds cruise through the air.<\/p>\n
Onto the actual Wild Fact about great blue herons.\u00a0 Did you know that herons contain patches of powder down feathers on their chest.\u00a0 That’s great you say, so what is a “powder down feather”.\u00a0 Well they are feathers that the heron can crumble into a powder like substance with its foot. Once again, you are probably saying “well that is great but what the heck is the point of these feathers”. Well my friend, the heron is able to apply this powder to its underbelly in order to prevent them from becoming slimy and oily from wading in the swamps all day.\u00a0 This powder will cause the slime to clump up and the heron can simply brush it away with it’s feet.\u00a0 Another use for this powder is to remove the slimy oils from fish.\u00a0 The heron just needs to drop some powder on its fishy meal and voila an oily free dinner! You can imagine the importance this powder plays into the hygiene of a bird that wades around in swamps all day! I know I could have used some of this powder when I was spending days in the water while conducting wetland evaluations!<\/p>\n
Alright, that just about does it for today’s Wild Fact on the Great Blue Heron!\u00a0 I hope you enjoyed it.\u00a0 See you tomorrow!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Just a few days ago one of my most loyal readers requested a Wild Fact on the Great Blue Heron.\u00a0 Since this reader is my mom, I pretty much had no choice but to create a Wild Fact about the Blue Heron. Even if you aren’t my mom, I welcome any and all suggestions about future Wild Facts.\u00a0 Don’t be shy just state your favourite animal and I will do my best to come up with an intresting adaptation for that creature. On with today’s fact!\u00a0 For those of you who are not aware of the Great Blue Heron, let <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4024],"tags":[348,46,312,311,313,4025,4027],"yoast_head":"\n
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