GREAT BLUE HERON CONSUMES SPRUCE CONES: 
A UNIQUE BEHAVIOR 
Sean Phelan 
1692 Karr Valley Rd. 
Almond, NY 14804 
On 16 May 1999 while exploring a section of Keeney Swamp State 
Forest (Allegany County) sometimes referred to as the "Gordon Hill 
Forest", I chanced upon a pair of Common Ravens (Corvus corax ) exhibit¬ 
ing what I took to be nest-building behavior in a section of woods con¬ 
taining numerous clusters of evergreens. After watching their activity 
from a distance for approximately fifteen minutes, I was fairly confident 
that I would be able to relocate the cluster of Black Spruce in which they 
had chosen to locate their nest. Not wanting to disrupt the process, I qui¬ 
etly retraced my steps knowing that I would return at a later date to con¬ 
firm the existence of what I hoped would be a new nest. 
Other commitments kept me from returning to the site until 31 May. 
Long before I could see the stand of spruce, sounds not unlike young 
excited ravens might make, reached my ears. I approached the stand 
from the north and with 7x35 binoculars scanned the tops for a nest. No 
evidence of a nest was visible but a hoarse "awking" and croaking peri¬ 
odically erupted from the stand. There were without question, at least 
two or more birds on the south side of the evergreens. Just as I decided 
to circle the cluster of evergreens and approach from the south, a large 
bird launched itself into the air from the southern end of the stand and 
headed in my direction. I instinctively froze . 
Much to my surprise, the bird turned out to be a Great Blue Heron 
(Ardea herodias). What happened next surprised me even more. The 
heron landed in the middle of another Black Spruce 35 to 50 yds. from my 
location. Awkwardly making its way out on a limb of the tree as far as 
possible, with wings partially spread for balance, it extended its neck and 
began tugging and plucking cones and occasionally new growth off the 
branch above. After collecting four to six cones in its beak, the bird 
pulled itself in to a more stable position and began crushing them within 
the back portion of its beak. It took obvious effort, and up to a half- 
dozen attempts before the heron accomplished the task. Rearranging the 
contents for ease of swallowing, the bird then did just that. 
The Great Blue repeated this process four more times before returning 
to the nest on the south side of the spruce cluster. I had no doubt that 
racket that arose from the nest came from young herons expecting to be 
The Kingbird 2000 March; 50(1) 
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