This is Bird Note.

That prehistoric sounding call is from a great blue heron.

This tall, stately bird is commonly seen standing alone on beaches,

in marshes, on docks and pilings, even on tree branches, watching.

Now from earlier this summer,

the rockest sound of a colony of nesting great blue herons.

Herons collect into groups for nesting,

constructing their Spartan stick nests in adjoining trees.

Several nests may be crammed into one tree.

As many as 60 nests in a colony can create quite a frenzy.

Nesting in large colonies helps protect the young from predators.

But by this time of year, the adults and gangly young have left the nests

to take up solitary lives along beaches, marshes, lake edges, and rivers.

After all the togetherness of the nesting colonies,

the herons spend the offseason by themselves, a pattern that is the reverse of many other species.

During fall and winter, they defend the areas where they feed,

as adamantly as other birds defend their nesting territories in spring.

The herons challenge and scare away intruders, including other great blue herons

by sounding this call.

It may sound strange, but it's one beautiful bird.

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