Nesting of Ward's Heron 



(Ardea herodias wardi) 



By R. D. Hoyt 



IN its breeding habits Ward's Heron is very erratic and, with the excep- 

 tion of the Bald Kagle, is one of our earliest, or perhaps more properly 

 speaking, the latest of our birds to begin nesting. It does not wait for the 

 new year but a few individuals begin operations by the latter part of Novem- 

 ber and by Christinas time a few nests may be found with young. New 

 nests are now more numerous, and by the middle of January many nests 

 will contain fresh sets of eggs. Still the nest building goes on, but in di- 

 minishing numbers, until the latter part of February. I once took a set of 

 two fresh eggs on April 4th. This may have been a second set, but I am 

 not aware that more than one brood is reared in a season. 



Here in Hillsborough County, Florida, the site selected for the colony 

 is almost invariably a floating island in the centre of a marshy spot. The 

 growth on the island is usually bay elder and wax myrtle, — low bushy trees 

 all tangled up with bamboo briar. Some islands contain buttonwood only, 

 and some have only willows. These islands are all small, from 20 to 100 

 feet in diameter, and the size of the colony is determined by the space it has; 

 from half a dozen to thirty pairs occupy the ground. The nests in some 

 instances are huge structures, having been renewed from year to year, pre- 

 sumably by the same pair of birds. They are placed in any situation that 

 forms a good foundation, — the entire top of a stout bush, or the horizontal 

 limb of a tree if sufficiently strong, and some are within two feet -of the 

 ground, others eight to twelve feet. 



One nesting place visited last season was a buttonwood island. During 

 its years of occupancy the birds had broken off every limb and twig that 

 could be used for nest building until now nothing but stubs remain. This 

 island contained eleven nests, all of which were made of cypress sticks that 

 had been brought at least three miles, that being the nearest cypress. Nests 

 are usually from 30 to 40 inches in diameter, and 10 to 14 inches deep, of 



114 



