Pterodactyls at Medina Park?

A stroll through Medina Park today will bring you to multiple large nests holding several balls of flightless-fluffy-down croaking a hideous noise. It is amazing to see, in close proximity, the vast wing span of North America's largest Heron.

Or are they the Great Blue Heron?

A stroll through Medina Park today will bring you to multiple large nests holding several balls of flightless-fluffy-down croaking a hideous noise. It is amazing to see, in close proximity, the vast wing span of North America’s largest Heron. Grab the kids, dogs, and camera and head down today while the sun is still shining to capture a glimpse of some beautiful birds.

It is the largest North American heron, with a head-to-tail length of 91–137 cm (36-54 in), a wingspan of 180 cm (71 in), and a weight of 2.2–3.6 kg (4.8-8 lbs). It is blue-gray overall, with black flight feathers, red-brown thighs, and a paired red-brown and black stripe up the flanks; the neck is rusty-gray, with black and white streaking down the front; the head is paler, with a nearly white face, and a pair of black plumes running from just above the eye to the back of the head. The feathers on the lower neck are long and plume-like; it also has plumes on the lower back at the start of the breeding season. The bill is dull yellowish, becoming orange briefly at the start of the breeding season, and the lower legs gray, also becoming orangey at the start of the breeding season. Immature birds are duller in color, with a dull blackish-gray crown, and the flank pattern only weakly defined; they have no plumes, and the bill is dull gray-yellow.

“When do great blue herons nest?”

These are, for the most part, resident birds. Like other species that are here the entire year, they start nesting activities earlier than we might expect. The heron’s breeding plumage begins to develop in the middle of the winter. Those long beautiful head and neck plumes brought some members of this family to the brink of extinction. We can be thankful that egret and heron feathers are no longer prized as adornments for women’s hats.

Herons in Western Washington begin courting around the first of March, and breeding activity follows in early April. By late April, the birds should have eggs in the nest. The eggs hatch after about a month, and activity throughout the herony increases daily.

Young attempt their first sustained flight around the herony at about 2 months of age. They abandon the nest from 64 to 91 days after hatching. Between two and three months pass from the time the eggs hatch until the young birds leave the herony. Then they are on their own when it comes to finding food. We don’t see young herons standing on the beach while a parent pokes food down their gullets.