Stanley Park’s colony is “incredibly abnormal,” said Xenakis.“People play tennis all day, you have cars driving through all day, and you have dogs walking by all day,” said Xenakis.About 90 chicks were born last year, even as the colony overcame persistent eagle raids and a nesting season delayed by winter weather, the Vancouver park board said in a news release.
“They might see it as having fewer predators, perhaps lots of people, but the people don’t really bother them very much. So, you know, herons do adapt to people fairly well in some circumstances and Stanley Park is definitely one of those,” he said. “Herons don’t like to fly more than about 10 kilometres from where they breed because otherwise it takes up too much energy,” said Morlin, who likened the large birds to “flying dinosaurs.”Article content
Xenakis said there has been a decline overall in fledglings since 2001, when there was a high point of about 254. Now they are seeing about 90 every year. “Some may defend their nests, but a lot of them just flee. It’s a quite unnerving sight for sure,” said Vennesland. “So, just make sure we are being like good citizens of the forest and not leaving a trace behind and causing harm to the animals that are there,” said Xenakis.