Great Blue Heron Meets T. Rex

The Great Blue Heron is tall and slender with a bill like a sword and the graceful, measured moves of a dancer. And it’s mostly quiet. But when this bird does make noise, it can be downright scary.

BirdNote^®

Great Blue Heron Meets T. Rex

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote.
[music suggesting graceful motion of the heron; possibly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpfCJsMsBOE or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNy7UmwzB6w]
The Great Blue Heron is tall and slender with a bill like a sword and the graceful, measured moves of a dancer.
And it’s mostly quiet.
But when this bird does make noise, it can be downright scary...
[Great Blue Heron call, https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/39517511, 0.04-.05, repeat]
...Perhaps even reminiscent of the heron’s ancestor - the Tyrannosaurus Rex. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIjNln61s4U, 0.33-35]
Not all Great Blue Heron calls are harsh, though.
Some are short: [https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/2034?__hstc=226533890.d8d5d7b24df13c0…],
some longer:
some rhythmic:
[https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/163809141#_ga=2.131338957.3717667.156…
But it’s perhaps a relief that the herons of today are a far cry from their enormous forebears.

For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.

###
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Sallie Bodie
Editor: Ashley Ahearn
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Assistant Producer: Mark Bramhill
Music as follows:
Artist: Prasit Thawon Ensemble
Song: Homrong Sornthong
Album: Thai Classical Music
Label: Wyastone Estate, 1994
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recordists as follows:
ML39517511 P Marvin     0:30
ML2034 C Sutherland    0:48
ML135383 M Anderson 0:52 and 1:12
ML163809141 A Spencer 1:00
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2020 BirdNote   February 2020 Narrator: Michael Stein

ID#   GBHE-05-2020-02-05   GBHE-05