This week, due to our family party, we did not manage to spend long at the pond, although actually visiting is never an issue because it is on the way to our local shops! However this week we did not have the time for a prolonged study so I had the children fit in bits of research for our next bird study around all their activities.
Our Heron is a Grey Heron (Ardea Cinerea). I had the children have a read up about the Grey Heron on Wikipedia and the RSPB site. And then they looked over our photos and remembered back to all we had observed. Here is everything they have learned so far about the Grey Heron:
It is a big bird, standing up to 100cm in height and is the biggest bird on our pond:
It has a white head with a black supercillium and long thin crest:
It is a wader:
It stands almost motionless waiting for it’s prey:
It uses it’s long sharp beak to stab it’s prey:
And swallows it whole:
It will also fish in the shallow waters looking for small fish, invertebrates and frogs:
It has a slow wing movement when flying, as if flying in slow motion:
When it flaps it’s wings, they make an M shape:
The Heron flies with it’s legs stretched behind it and their neck in an S-shape which distinguishes them from storks and cranes:
It’s mummy’s favourite bird:
