Elegant Tofino Herons – West Coast Great Blue Herons

How We Know Birds Evolved From Dinosaurs

Great Blue Herons are majestic birds who evoke a sense of royalty on the water. Their movements are measured and sure, their posture is tall and true, and they fly with grace and power. We are amongst those who believe birds evolved from dinosaurs: share a myriad of skeletal features, fossils of more than 20 species of dinosaur have been collected with preserved feathers, small dinosaurs can have long arm and leg feathers (wings), nest building…But of course all you have to do is listen to a heron and you know immediately that they are dinosaurs – at least we do. Great Blue Herons eat mostly fish but also eat other aquatic small crustaceans and insects. Usually they wade through water to fish, and Great Blues can wade in deeper water than more other herons because of they height, but these herons can drop from the air to fish. Great Blue Herons fish using they long, sharp bill as a spear. One of our favourite birds to watch, we counted 16 of them out on the mudflats one morning fishing while the tide went out, we love to see them.