Raising a Young Heron

Finright

Our neighbours found this little fella about a month ago. He was walking around in a woods and we could see the nest above, but no sign of any parents about. Plenty of cats, dogs and foxes around though so we said we'd have a go at rearing him ourselves. I looked online but there wasn't much information so we had to make it up as we went along. Seems to be working fine though as he's thriving. This is him when we found him.

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Finright

and this was his first home...

kildare.17hmr

I no your hearts in the right place but you shouldnt let him get too dependent on you, as soon as he is strong enough you should relese him again, id say leave him outside too not in the house. wild animals should be left in the wild if they become dependent on humans they will have trouble surviving in the wild.

paulusdu

Great stuff, he could do with an auld hair cut though . . .:D

You should keep us updated every so often, see how he is doing

Finright

we've had him outside since a few weeks ago. We also had to bring him on a holiday to galway for a week as there was no one to feed him where we found him in west cork. We were up to the fishmongers every day to get him scraps, heads etc. Now the trawlermen we know keep a bucket of small flatfish for him each eve. He has some appetite! We've also given him a large tank with live shannies, and dabs. They didn't last long either the poor things! He dispatched a live gurnard last week too! He's now resident on the balcony and roof of the house, and has just started to fly/jump around the surrounding hedges and trees, although he always come back for dinner. We're hoping to wean him off the human feeding, we now leave the fish for him to sort out himself, so we hope he'll make it down to the beach (about 100yards away) soon and start fishing for himself, although we don't mind giving him a free meal from time to time.
This is him now, less of a punk look going on as the juvenile feathers are replaced!

kildare.17hmr

fair play sounds like your doing it right so

Haruki

Did i read that right, you brought him on a holiday to Galway ??:D

emarfrog

Well done OP, I live beside a river and I love watching the herons. I nearly spat my tea out laughing when I read that you took the little fella on holidays!
Its an amazing story I've never heard of anyone hand raising a heron before!

Finright

yup, he didn't seem to mind the car journey too much. we went at night and he seemed to roost most of the way!! Here's him looking for his breakfast at the window...He's called Ron....or VeRONica....we can't tell which and I don't think it's possible to find out, unless someone knows otherwise??

JCDUB

Deadly story. I love the herons, sitting there with one leg tucked up under their arse for what seems like hours waiting for the moment..

Well done OP, sounds like a great success story!

And the holidays, well, that's just hysterical. That's devotion I tells ye :eek:

baaaa

That is awesome,looks to be thriving,can't have been easy,serious credit due.
I assume it's smart like other birds?Mightn't be the hardest animal to re-wild.

ThunderCat

Absolutly fantastic story. Well done OP. she/he seems quite the character. keep us posted.

Judgement Day

Finright - as others here have said, I've never heard of anybody hand rearing a Heron before and well done he/she is a credit to your family - keep the pics and news coming.

Finright

We'd no idea what to do with him at first so we started him on razor fish that we had in the freezer. He wasn't able to take them himself so we figured out a way of getting the food in to him by sticking a hand out, which he'd peck, and then holding his beak open and pushing the chopped up pieces in to his throat. This is more or less how the mother does it in the wild. Luckily we've a zoologist and a naturalist at hand!
He got very used to this method of feeding, which lasted a couple of weeks, until one day he picked up a piece of dropped fish and from then one we used a tongs to dangle pieces in front of him which he'd take himself. We made sure to keep all the fish as wet as possible to ensure he didn't dehydrate. We put him in a makeshift nest, which after a few weeks he began to leave during the day, always returning to roost. He much prefers to be out in the open and up high, with nothing blocking his view, especially from above. I presume this is a safety thing as they would still be at the top of a tree at this age.
Other than that all there is to do is keep feeding him, a few times a day. We have lessened the regularity of feeding as he has grown, so he isn't too used to constant food!
He's now exercising his wings and starting to figure out what they're for, by the looks of it!

Finright

He's also attracting some attention from the local wildlife! Luckily, he's safe where he is, and I think he's well able to get away if needs be.

Finright

We felt sorry for him in the rain!!

Lumi

Finright wrote: »

We felt sorry for him in the rain!!

This story keeps getting better and better - can't wait for the next installment!

whyulittle

Looks like Bob has some competition!

Scotty #

Great story. Love to see these 'against the odds' threads.

I notice in most photo's he's standing in the crate. Is this his preferred perch?

chucken1

Aw this is such a lovely story. Fair play to you op

Holidays in Galway?? Well for some birds

wildlifeboy

I have been in contact with union hall fisheries co ltd for your obvious unauthorised use!

Finright

He seems to always perch on or around the fish box, which I suppose he thinks of as his nest. Hopefully he'll be easy enough to re-integrate into the wild, he seems to have a lot of instincts as it is. When we give him dead fish he drops them into his tank of water and 'stalks' them, catching them a few times before eating them. He has also found the stream beside the house and wades up and down in it, although I don't think there's any fish in it! Pics to follow, and hopefully a video.
Does one have to upload vids to youtube first in order to post them here?

Here's a photo of his road trip.....

Knine

Wow I didnt realise that baby herons were so cute. My 8 year old daughter has called him Jedbird with his hairdo.....:D

Thanks for sharing

marlin vs

wildlifeboy wrote: »

I have been in contact with union hall fisheries co ltd for your obvious unauthorised use!

Don't worry Finright we'll get you another one,with permission.:D
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/179/20110508fb0002large.jpg

M.T. Cranium

Speaking of herons, we have the "great blue heron" species around this part of the world, there are colonies of 50-100 scattered around the Vancouver area. Here's a picture of one with a fan club of mallard ducks.

Zuiderzee

Lovely story, I remember one guy on TV who also raised a heron, used to get dead chicks from a chicken hatchery after sexing (dead males) and feed them to the heron

Finright

Ron is still thriving. In the last week he has started to regularly leave for a few hours, and spent a couple of nights away too. He still returns for food though, but we are giving him less all the time to give him some incentive to go fishing himself.

He's definitely eager to travel.....

Finright

And, the other day, he brought home a friend!



The other one looks about the same age, so we think it might be from the same clutch. There's a small heronry (under which we found Ron to begin with) down the road so we presume he came from there.The new one is, of course, not so tame but he has visited a few times in the last few days.

Scotty #

Is he tame? If humans approach him will he fly off (as he should)?

TRNIALL

Finright wrote: »

And, the other day, he brought home a friend!



The other one looks about the same age, so we think it might be from the same clutch. There's a small heronry (under which we found Ron to begin with) down the road so we presume he came from there.The new one is, of course, not so tame but he has visited a few times in the last few days.

Just hope the rest of them dont turn up,youll have nout left.

Lumi

Any updates on Ron?

Finright

Ron´s very well, flies off for the day now, high over the trees. Still comes back regularly for food, but we think he may be hunting also as he isn´t always hungry. He´s pretty tame, you can almost touch him, but he´ll get you with his beak first, looking for fish! Also he´s become a bit territorial and hunts away the other one when it shows up..Pics to follow

Racer88

This is the best thing I've ever seen.

Tinytony

It's a brilliant story

artieanna

fantastic and unbelieveable all at the same time

well done

Trotter

Amazing Last one I saw was in an urban back yard when my friend got a new pond in. He forgot that a well stocked new pond in a housing estate garden is like a drive through McDonalds for a heron and he soon had a very empty pond.

doctor evil

Glad to hear he has not become too tame, hopefully he should ditch you guys as uncool parents

Cookie_Monster

great thread, well done

Finright

so Ron is still in fine form, hanging around the house during the afternoons, but away the rest of the time, he began to bring sticks up to the balcony and arrange them on 'his' table, maybe starting to build a canopy on which to sit. Some instinct to maintain his perch I suppose, although his heart isn't really in it!!

Judgement Day

Love the thread. Ron seems to belong to the Collared Dove school of nest building.

Finright

He has also taken to the pond, which he sits beside for hours. There isn't much in it except for water diving beetles, which he tries to catch, just for the sport it seems. When we do give him a bit of fish (more and more occasionally) we drop it in to the pond and he stalks it before catching it and swallowing it, after carefully removing any leaves or dirt that are on it.
He has become a strong flier and when one walks in to the yard he will swoop down over your head and stand beside the pond waiting. He's wary of most people, but he has come to recognise those that will feed him and will strut around the garden behind them!

Alun

One thing I'd like to ask ... what's that green ring on his right leg? Looks like a bit of green hosepipe to me

Finright

As mentioned, he has become an adept flier, and we have spotted him flying around the heronry down the road with other birds which look to be a similar age (though less fat!), so we hope he is socialising with his siblings etc.

At dusk yesterday he was still in the yard, watching us through the window as we played pool. Lucky I was watching him too, and spotted one of our local foxes about 20ft behind him in the grass. Ron was totally oblivious and when I went out and clapped my hands to scare off the fox, he swooped off across the field, while the fox stood staring at me (and cursing me I'm sure). We're going to try to keep the fox at bay because Ron sometimes sleeps in the sun, head under wing, beside the pond, and would be a sitting duck for a hungry fox, as this one obviously is judging by its condition!

Finright

Alun wrote: »

One thing I'd like to ask ... what's that green ring on his right leg? Looks like a bit of green hosepipe to me

well spotted!! it's proving very difficult to get a proper bird ring so we improvised for the moment!

swifts need our help!

Most bird watchers would know a bird ringer. Do you know any bird watchers?

Finright

Turns out Ron is quite a hunter!
One of his feeders went out to give him some fish in the yard a few days ago, and as he followed them towards the pond, Ron noticed something in the bushes. After stalking around them for a while he shot his head in and came out with a poor young rat! He then brought it to the stream and dunked it several times until it was totally lifeless and, after a few attempts, swallowed it whole!! It seems there's no need to worry about him fending for himself, and he is only visiting the house for an easy meal these days!

cscook

If he did that with some fresh fish in sight and on tap, I'd say he's very happy hunting. Great shots - TFS.

snowstreams

Thats amazing that he already learned how to drown and swallow a rat whole! Rats must make up a large part of a heron diet!

tricky D

They'll take ducklings too.

Rainbowsend

Brilliant you could rent him out to Rentokil!!!

Finright

tricky D wrote: »

They'll take ducklings too.

Today's paper:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0621/1224299312071.html