{"id":822,"date":"2018-06-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/weebly-import-post-64"},"modified":"2026-06-17T01:43:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T01:43:24","slug":"from-drought-to-floods-great-blue-heron-colony-on-the-rise","status":"publish","type":"wingbeat","link":"https:\/\/sfbbo-test.twomoons.systems\/staging\/1924\/wingbeat\/from-drought-to-floods-great-blue-heron-colony-on-the-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"From Drought to Floods, Great Blue Heron Colony on the Rise"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-7387b849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\"><div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><span>By Guest Blogger Jackie Vargo<\/span><\/strong><\/p><div><div class=\"wsite-multicol\"><div class=\"wsite-multicol-table-wrap\" style=\"margin:0 -15px\"> <table class=\"wsite-multicol-table\"> <tbody class=\"wsite-multicol-tbody\"> <tr class=\"wsite-multicol-tr\"> <td class=\"wsite-multicol-col\" style=\"width:26.041666666667%; padding:0 15px\"> <div><div class=\"wsite-image wsite-image-border-none\" style=\"padding-top:10px;padding-bottom:10px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;text-align:center\"> <a> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Picture\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfbbo-test.twomoons.systems\/staging\/1924\/wp-content\/uploads\/weebly-migration\/vargo-jackie-headshot-1_orig.jpg?ssl=1\" style=\"width:auto;max-width:100%\"\/> <\/a>  <\/div><\/div> <\/td> <td class=\"wsite-multicol-col\" style=\"width:73.958333333333%; padding:0 15px\"> <div class=\"paragraph\">I\u2019ve been a citizen scientist for SFBBO\u2019s <a href=\"\/staging\/1924\/colonial-waterbird-monitoring\/\">Colonial Waterbird Program<\/a> since 2014 and monitor a colony of Great Blue Herons that nest at Coyote Ranch Road in San Jose. Over the past four years I\u2019ve noticed that weather has impacted my colony, but I am happy to report that this year my Great Blues are on the rise!<br\/>\u200b<br\/>In 2013, there had only been \u00a04 nests, 3 adults, and 3 young in the Fremont Cottonwoods where they liked to nest. The year I started volunteering I observed that the small canyon below the land where\u00a0<span>Fremont Cottonwoods stood was mostly dry,\u00a0<\/span>\u200bas was much of the &#8230;<\/div> <\/td> <\/tr> <\/tbody> <\/table> <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Picture\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfbbo-test.twomoons.systems\/staging\/1924\/wp-content\/uploads\/weebly-migration\/vargo-jackie-headshot-1_orig.jpg?ssl=1\"\/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve been a citizen scientist for SFBBO\u2019s <a href=\"\/staging\/1924\/colonial-waterbird-monitoring\/\">Colonial Waterbird Program<\/a> since 2014 and monitor a colony of Great Blue Herons that nest at Coyote Ranch Road in San Jose. Over the past four years I\u2019ve noticed that weather has impacted my colony, but I am happy to report that this year my Great Blues are on the rise!<br\/>\u200b<br\/>In 2013, there had only been \u00a04 nests, 3 adults, and 3 young in the Fremont Cottonwoods where they liked to nest. The year I started volunteering I observed that the small canyon below the land where\u00a0<span>Fremont Cottonwoods stood was mostly dry,\u00a0<\/span>\u200bas was much of the &#8230;<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n<!--more-->\n\n  <div class=\"paragraph\"><span>nearby Coyote Creek, with the exception of a small pond. At that point the San Jose drought was in full swing, so having any water there was a blessing!<br\/>\u200b<br\/>Over the next couple years my colony\u2019s population had its highs and lows, but the low point was reached in 2016, when there was only a maximum of 3 nests and 2 young seen at one time.\u00a0 While it is possible that nests and birds were hidden in the dense Fremont Cottonwood foliage, there was minimal chick \u201ccackling\u201d or flying adults. It almost seemed as if my colony was not going to last another year. \u00a0<\/span><br\/><br\/><span>Miraculously, though, the torrential rains in 2017 helped the colony survive and the two Fremont Cottonwoods near Coyote Ranch Road and the Coyote Creek Trail slowly started to be the \u201cplace to be\u201d for Great Blue Herons. I even saw a Great Egret nest with 3 egrets, although it didn\u2019t last very long.<\/span><\/div> <div> <figure class=\"wp-block-gallery wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfbbo-test.twomoons.systems\/staging\/1924\/wp-content\/uploads\/weebly-migration\/graph-for-jackie.png?ssl=1\"\/><\/figure><figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sfbbo-test.twomoons.systems\/staging\/1924\/wp-content\/uploads\/weebly-migration\/chart-for-jackie.png?ssl=1\"\/><\/figure><\/figure>\n<\/div> <div class=\"paragraph\"><span>This year the canyon below the Fremont Cottonwoods is completely filled with water, and at some points the Coyote Creek trail was even flooded. On June 1st the colony boasted 14 nests, with 12 young and 14 adults, the highest number of nests and birds since before 2012! \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><br\/><span>\u200b<\/span><br\/><span>Monitoring so many nests is fun because I get to watch the Great Blue Herons\u2019 behavior. There is plenty of time to watch in awe as the parents fly up to the cackling juveniles and just stand there and take it as the kids fight over who gets to bug them for food first. The parents are so admirably patient! And as I wait with my scope pointed at the nest to see if there is actually another chick hiding low, I have to be patient too. It\u2019s definitely worth the wait.\u00a0<\/span><br\/><br\/><em><strong>You can learn more about our Colonial Waterbird Program on our\u00a0<a href=\"\/staging\/1924\/colonial-waterbird-monitoring\/\">website<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span>\u200b\u200b<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Guest Blogger Jackie Vargo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1230,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":""},"class_list":["post-822","wingbeat","type-wingbeat","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>From Drought to Floods, Great Blue Heron Colony on the Rise - San Fransisco Bay Bird Observatory<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sfbbo-test.twomoons.systems\/staging\/1924\/wingbeat\/from-drought-to-floods-great-blue-heron-colony-on-the-rise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From Drought to Floods, Great Blue Heron Colony on the Rise - 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