Alien Landings - A Trove of Green Heron Nests Might Just Be Treasure
By Justin Nobel
Karen A. Westphal Photography
On a humid May morning, Timmy Vincent navigates a flat-bottomed boat through the marshy labyrinth of Audubon’s Paul J. Rainey Wildlife Sanctuary, in southwestern Louisiana.
“That looks herony,” says Vincent in his distinct Cajun accent, pointing to a thorny honey locust tree hanging low over the coffee-colored canal. Sure enough, wedged into a set of lower branches is a Green Heron nest.
“All right,” cries Erik Johnson, Audubon Louisiana’s director of bird conservation as he peers into the nest. “We got eggs!”—four tiny pale-blue ovals.
Green Herons can be found across much of the United States, though their skittishness makes them unusually challenging subjects to study. Unlike some other, more colorful marsh species, including Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets, which nest in large, noisy treetop colonies, the more subtly colored Green Heron prefers to nest in shrubs and low scrubby trees along secluded waterways. This makes their nests “extremely difficult” to find, says Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries ornithologist Michael Seymour. ...
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