Pintlala Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) colony decline
For several years Robert Mount and James Dobie told me about a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) colony, located in a single tree on the eastern side of Interstate-65, south of the Pintlala Exit, Montgomery Co., Alabama. I finally located it on 25 March 1985, about 1 km south of Hooper Academy. The colony was in a single, dead osage orange tree (Maclura pomifera) situated in a small pond, about 25 m in diameter. There were 10 nests in the tree, when I first saw it. In subsequent years, it has varied from 10 to 18 nests (Table 1). On 12 June 1997, only four nests were present with only one occupied by a single, large, nestling.
Author: Julian L. Dusi
Volume Number: 43 Year Published: 1997
Issue Number: 2
Page Number: 16
Link to article: http://birdlife.aosbirds.org/1997/Vol. 43 No 2 1997_p16-17.pdf
Link to the full issue of BirdLife: http://birdlife.aosbirds.org/1997/Vol. 43 No 2 1997.pdf