BOARD OF GAME AND FISH COMMISSIONERS 
69 
as generally throughout the prairie portion of the state, the nests are built in the 
great quill-reed swamps, while in wooded regions the birds build in medium sized 
trees, not far from water. An interesting incident happened at Heron Lake a few 
years ago, showing the ready adaptability of this bird to unexpected and unusual 
conditions. High water that year completely submerged the customary quill-reed 
nesting site and when the necessity of building became urgent, these birds, bred 
in ground nests, betook themselves to a willow-fringed stream a mile or so away 
and constructed arboreal nests among the branches of the willows. 
Wherever this beautiful Heron occurs it may be seen morning and evening 
standing immovable as a statue in the shallow water beside some lake or stream, 
patiently awaiting the unwary fish that may come within reach of its lightning- 
like thrust. At the Heron Lake heronry, catfish and small carp seem to be the 
chief catch. The fish are swallowed whole, head foremost, by both young and 
old, but are more or less torn and mutilated for the smaller nestlings. The fish 
are easily regurgitated from the gullet, to be again swallowed by the same or 
another bird. It is probable that no kind of animal food, small enough to be taken 
whole, comes amiss, including, I fear, an occasional young bird or egg. The Night 
Herons at Heron Lake are much feared by the Franklin’s Gulls and when the 
nesting sites are in close proximity, the Herons are the occasion of constant solici¬ 
tude and incessant warfare on the part of the Gulls. 
The Great Blue Heron is a common bird all over the state except during 
the breeding season, when it is chiefly confined to the wooded portion, as it places 
its nest in the tops of the tallest trees. An island in a large lake or river is the 
favorite site chosen for its heronry, though an occasional colony may be situated 
at some distance from water. One or more pairs of Great Blues now and then 
join the Night Herons at Heron Lake and build their nests among the quill-reeds. 
This big bird is a very early spring arrival and often before the ice is loosened in 
the lakes it comes from the south and going at once to the nesting places, begins 
to repair the dismantled homes of the previous year. I have known them to come 
to Lake Minnetonka while teams were still going back and forth on the ice. It 
would seem as though they must find it extremely difficult to get enough to eat 
under such conditions for recently opened streams and rivers can be the only 
sources of supply. The name “Crane” is commonly applied to this heron in this 
state, but the bird is not a crane either in habits or classification. 
The Great Blue Heron is in much disfavor with fish culturists and others 
who consider it destructive to game fish and who regard its nesting places as 
nuisances. It will have to be admitted even by the friends of this picturesque and 
stately bird that there is some reasonable ground for these complaints. At an 
unguarded and unprotected fish hatchery it could certainly work sad havoc and 
it is probable that the most troublesome birds would have to be destroyed. The 
wild fish that it catches are mostly small and of little importance. An exam¬ 
ination of the fish accidentally dropped by the young birds at the heronry in 
upper Lake Minnetonka during several visits in the summer of 1918 gave the fol¬ 
lowing results: carp 8, sunfish 5 small, pickerel 2 small and 1 sixteen inches 
long, crappie 1 medium sized, yellow perch 1 small and remains of crayfish 
everywhere. The absence of catfish was a surprise as at the Minnesota River 
sloughs where the birds of this heronry fish all day long, I have seen them catch 
common bull-pouts often of considerable size. 
