and November to winter in southern States. A few (mostly great blue herons) 

 attempt to overwinter. 



Feeding Habits 



Wading birds usually feed by 'standing and waiting' and 'walking or stalking.' 

 Other methods include 'disturbing and chasing,' 'aerial feeding,' 

 'plunge/diving,' and 'swimming.' Most feed in the daytime but the black- 

 crowned night heron feeds in the evening and at night (Kushlan 1976). 



Wading birds may feed with others of their own or different species and 

 sometimes with terns (Bertin 1977), pied-billed grebes (Mueller et al. 1972), 

 mergansers (Emlin and Ambrose 1970), or shorebirds. In these associations 

 different species may feed directly on the same prey or feed on prey disturbed 

 by other waterbirds. 



In Maine estuaries, wading birds feed mostly on killifish, minnows, eels, 

 crustaceans, insects, and occasionally birds, small mammals, and plant 

 material (tables 14-16 and 14-17) . In palustrine, riverine, and lacustrine 

 habitats they feed on a variety of fish, frogs, tadpoles, small mammals, 

 birds, crustaceans, and insects. On land they take a variety of amphibians, 

 small mammals, and insects. 



Table 14-15. . Estimated Number of Pairs of Wading Birds (number of colonies 



in parenethesis) Breeding in Each Region of the Characterization 

 Area in 1977 5 . ] , 



Species Region Total 



Great blue heron 95 75 150 188 340 57 905 



(2) 1 (1) (7) (4) (3) (19) 



Black-crowned 41 30 8 79 



night heron (2) (1) (D W 



Snowy egret 6 1 ' 



(1) (1) (2) 



'Tyler 1977; Korschgen 1979, 



14-38 



