Belize Biodiversity Information System NAME - Great Blue Heron FAMILY - Ardeidae SCIENTIFIC NAME - Ardea herodias REFERENCES - 1 National abundance, Conservation or Economic Status Reference Winter visitor - migrant. 40 Resident, species present all year. 40 Resident, species present all year. 3 Apparently secure in Belize 39 Common: high density, likely to be seen in many places 39 Of concern: cayes and coastal zone 38 U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty 34 District Reference Belize 4 Cayo 5 Corozal 15 Orange Walk 5 Stann Creek 12 Administrative Unit Occurrence Temporal Reference Coastal zone, not including cayes. Dry season 25 Coastal zone, not including cayes. Wet season 26 Freshwater Creek Forest Reserve Sighting Wet season 17 Shipstern Nature Reserve Sighting Dry season 15 Rio Bravo Conservation Area 21 Rio Bravo Conservation Area 36 Gallon Jug 20 Gallon Jug 5 Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary Dry season 19 Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary Dry season 24 Bladen Nature Reserve 11 Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary 35 Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary 13 Half Moon Caye Natural Monument Accidental 29 Half Moon Caye Natural Monument Migrant 30 Burdon Canal Nature Reserve Dry season 8 Community Baboon Sanctuary Sighting Wet season 28 Community Baboon Sanctuary 23 Lamanai Archaeological Reserve Sighting Wet season 14 Mussel Creek Drainage (Proposed) Sighting 4 Mussel Creek Drainage (Proposed) 10 Northern Lagoon/Southern Lagoon (Prop Dry season 25 Private land, see comments Sighting August 31 Private land, see comments Sighting Dry season 16 Private land, see comments Sighting Dry season 24 Private land, see comments Sighting Winter Res 9 Private land, see comments 12 Private land, see comments Dry season 25 Private land, see comments 26 Private land, see comments 31 Private land, see comments 7 Ambergris Cay 22 Cayes, other; see comments Dry season 18 Cayes, other; see comments Dry season 26 Turneffe Reef Sighting Wet season 27 Monkey River Special Development Area Sighting Wet season 33 Caye Caulker Sighting Dry season 6 Caye Caulker Dry season 24 Hydrologic Association Reference New River Lagoon 36 Belize River 28 Cox's Lagoon 4 Belize River 7 Macal River 9 Bladen Branch 11 Mussel Creek 10 Sittee River 12 Sibun River 13 New River 14 Elevation Reference 1-200 m 31 1-200 m 36 1-200 m 37 1:50,000 Quadrangle Reference 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 30' to 88 45' 14 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 30' to 88 45' 19 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 30' to 88 45' 24 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 00' to 88 15' 24 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 00' to 88 15' 6 17 30' to 17 45'; 89 00' to 89 15' 20 17 30' to 17 45'; 89 00' to 89 15' 37 17 30' to 17 45'; 89 00' to 89 15' 5 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 45' to 89 00' 37 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 23 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 25 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 26 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 28 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 36 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 19 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 25 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 37 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 5 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 00' to 88 15' 18 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 00' to 88 15' 24 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 00' to 88 15' 6 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 45' to 89 00' 7 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45' 24 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45' 31 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45' 37 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45' 4 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 10' to 88 30' 8 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 00' to 88 10' 24 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 00' to 88 10' 8 17 00' to 17 15'; 89 00' to 89 15' 9 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 45' to 89 00' 37 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 45' to 89 00' 5 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 30' to 88 45' 31 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 30' to 88 45' 37 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 30' to 88 45' 5 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 30' to 88 45' 35 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 15' to 88 30' 12 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 15' to 88 30' 31 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 15' to 88 30' 32 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 00' to 88 10' 25 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 00' to 88 10' 31 16 30' to 16 45'; 88 45' to 89 00' 11 16 30' to 16 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 35 18 15' to 18 30'; 88 00' to 88 15' 15 16 15' to 16 30'; 88 15' to 88 30' 33 16 00' to 16 15'; 88 45' to 89 00' 26 18 00' to 18 15'; 88 30' to 88 45' 31 17 00' to 17 15'; 87 30' to 87 45' 29 17 00' to 17 15'; 87 30' to 87 45' 30 17 15' to 17 30'; 87 45' to 88 00' 27 18 00' to 18 15'; 88 15' to 88 30' 17 17 52'35" to 18 11'30"; 87 49' to 88 03' 22 17 45' to 18 00'; 89 00' to 89 15' 21 17 45' to 18 00'; 89 00' to 89 15' 31 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 45' to 89 00' 16 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 45' to 89 00' 31 Holdridge Life Zone Reference Tropical moist-transition to Subtropical 37 Tropical moist-transition to Subtropical 31 Subtropical wet 35 Subtropical moist 37 Subtropical moist 36 Subtropical moist 31 Subtropical moist 28 Marine 30 Marine 29 General Distribution Comments 40* Common northern semideciduous moist forest. Uncommon southern moist-wet evergreen broadleaf forests. Rare Mtn. Pine Ridge/savannas on poor soil. Common coastal/low-lands savannas, inc. marshy areas. Common mangroves lowlands & coastal beaches. Common cayes inc. Ambergris. 26* Big Falls Rice Farm 25* Airport Camp; Big Falls Rice Farm 24* White morph at Caye Caulker; Big Falls 18* Caye Chapel 11* Richardson Creek & Bladen Br. upstream to Calera Caves 12* Possum Point Biological Station 9* Sighted at or within 5 mile radius of Chaa Creek Cottages 7* Banana Bank Ranch 3* Permanent resident, rare in summer, common in northern hardwood forests, coastal savannas, mangroves and beaches along coastal zone; rare in southern hardwood forests. References 1 A.O.U. 1983. Checklist of North American Birds. 6th Ed. 2 A.O.U. 1985, 1987, 1989. 35th-37th Supplements. 3 Wood, D.S.,R. C. Leberman, and D. Weyer. 1986. Checklist of Birds of Belize. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication 12. 4 Hunt, H. R., J. Tamarack. 1992. Cox Lagoon Crocodile Preserve. Unpub. report. pp.4-8 5 Miller, B. W., 1994. Belize Christmas Bird Counts, Twenty Year Summary. in prep. 6 McRae, E. 1993. Preliminary Check-list - Birds of Caye Caulker. 7 Duncan, M., W. Duncan. 1993. Banana Bank, Nov. 1, Checklist provided in lit. 8 Miller, B., C. Miller. 1993. Preliminary Avian Survey of Burdon Canal Nature Reserve. Unpublished report for the Forest Department 9 Carnegie Ornithological Group and Mass Audubon Ornithological Group, compilers. 1993. Chaa Creek Bird List. Unpublished list. 10 Miller, B., C. Miller. 1987. Conservation of a Critical Marsh and Lowland habitat, Mussel Creek drainage system, Belize, C.A. Report to NYZS/Wildlife Conservation Society. 11 Brokaw, N. L. V., T. L. Lloyd-Evans. 1987. The Bladen Branch Wilderness. p.38-42. Unpublished report. 12 Anon. 1993. Bird Checklist for Possum Point Biological Station, Sittee River, Belize 13 Anon. 1994. Monkey Bay Checklist of Birds. Unpublished list. 14 Noble, B., B. Stewart, J. Dillon. 1994. Lamanai Bird List, Mid-October 1993 - 16 March 1994. 15 Meerman, J. 1993. Checklist of the Birds of the Shipstern Nature Reserve, Occasional Papers of the Belize Natural History Society. 2(10). pp. 71-81. 16 Platt, S. 1993. Wildlife Survey of Gold Button Ranch, Belize. Unpublished report. 17 Reichelt, B., C. Philcox. 1994. DRAFT - Freshwater Creek Forest Reserve Natural History Studies. Unpublished report. 18 McDuffie, P. 1993. Personal Bird List for Belize: September 1, 1989 - December 15, 1993. Unpublished list. 19 Wood, D. S., R. C. Leberman. 1987. Results of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History Expeditions to Belize. III. Distributional Notes on the Birds of Belize. Annals Carnegie Museum. 56(6):137-160. 20 Miller, B., C. Miller. 1994. A working checklist of the birds of Gallon Jug. Unpublished list. 21 Anon. 1994 (August). Working Checklist, Birds of Rio Bravo Conservation Management Area. Unpublished list. 22 Forsythe, D. 1994. Unpublished Belize Trip list June 18-21. 23 O'Connell, S. 1987. in Horwich, R. H. and J. Lyon. The Community Baboon Sanctuary, A Guide Book. Orangu-tan Press, Gays Mills, WI. pp. 113. 24 Counsell, D.J.R., B. Etheridge. 1986. RAFOS Expedition to Belize. Unpublished report. 25 Hallchurch, T.T., compiler. 1982. Exercise King Vulture Belize 23 Feb.- 16 March. Unpub. report for the British Army Bird Watching Society. 26 Jenkins, P. G. 1982. The Royal Air Force Ornithological Society Belize Expedition, 1981. 80.pp Unpublished report. 27 Platt, S. G. 1994. Checklist of Fauna Recorded During Crocodile Surveys of Turneffe Atoll. Unpub. checklist. 28 James, D., J. Bider. 1993. Bird List: Community Baboon Sanctuary, 1989- 1993 (derived from banding & census data, field notes). Unpublished data 29 Miller, C. M., B. W. Miller. 1995. Avian Surveys: Half Moon Caye Natural Monument. Unpublished report for Belize Audubon Society. 30 Pomeroy, C. 1989. Internship Report, Half Moon Caye Natural Monument. Unpublished report for Belize Audubon Society. 31 Robbins, Chandler. 1996. U.S.F.& Wildlife Service Wintering Bird Surveys for Belize. Unpublished data provided by C. Robbins. 32 Meerman, J., T. Boomsma. 1995. False Sittee Point, Stann Creek District, Belize. Biological and Physical Survey 1995. p. 19. 33 Meerman, J.C. ed. 1995. Monkey River Special Development Area Stann Creek District, Belize. Belize Tropical Forest Studies Publication #5. Appendix: Bird List. Unpublished Technical report for B.E.S.T. 34 Title 50 Code of Federal Regulations, Subchapter B., Part 10.13: List of Migratory Birds. U.S. Government Printing Office: 1985 0-488-794. (Lists all species of migratory birds protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703-711). 35 Kamstra, J. May 1987. An Ecological Survey of the Cockscomb Basin, Belize. Masters Thesis. York University, Ontario, Canada 36 Vallely, A. C., A. A. Whitman. 1996. The birds of Hill Bank, northern Belize. Unpublished report for Programme for Belize. 37 Miller, B. W. 1997. Belize Christmas Bird Count Summary 1970-1995. Data from American Birds Vol. 28-50 including 1973-1996. 38 McRae, E. 1994. The Birds of Belize's Coastal Zone: Species, Distribution, Current Status, Threats to their Well-being, and Potential Measures to Reduce their Impact. Report to NPAMP. 39 Miller, B.W., C.M. Miller. 1997. Avian Risk Assessment for Belize, Species at Risk and of Conservation Concern. Report to Programme for Belize/TNC Wings of America Program. 40 Garcia, J., S. Matola, M. Meadows, and C. Wright. 1994. A Checklist of the Birds of Belize. WWF-US. 35p.
Wildlife Conservation Society
Ministry of Natural Resources' Land Information Centre
01/19/98