FIRST RECORD OF A GREEN HERON ON P. E. I. 
     
     (Rosemary Curley, P. E. I. Fish and Wildlife Division) 
     
    
   
   
    
     In the spring my duties at 
     
     work include waterfowl surveys, 
     
     and so at 8:15 a.m. on May 18, 
     
     1979 I found myself sitting in a 
     
     blind in a spruce tree at the 
     
     mouth of Cow Creek*. Our surveys 
     
     call for one hour of observation, 
     
     but in the first half hour that 
     
     morning I had already seen all 
     
     the ducks there were on the pond: 
     
     one female Blue-winged Teal and 
     
     five non-breeding Black Ducks. 
     
    

    
     An hour of observation can 
     
     seem like a day when there is 
     
     nothing to observe, so I took more 
     
     than passing notice when at 8:45 
     
     a pair of blazing orange legs 
     
     whipped past my field of vision. 
     
     The legs, with a bird attached, 
     
     landed on a log to the right of 
     
     my blind and stayed there about 
     
     a minute, just long enough for me 
     
     to make a sketch of the bird, all 
     
     except for the tail. 
     
    

    
     I knew it had to be a heron, 
     
     either a Little Blue or a 'Little' 
     
     Green, but its behaviour was most 
     
     unheron—like. Instead of the 
     
     stalk employed by the Great Blue, 
     
    
   
   
    
     it skittered back and forth frmmthe 
     
    
   
   
    
     log to the shallow water in active 
     
     foraging. 
     
    

    
     ' When I returned to my car I 
     
     checked in my field guide,which 
     
    
   
   
    
     revealed the bird to be just a plain 
     
    
   
   
    
     Green Heron, albeit an adult in 
     
     breeding plumage. (Little Blues 
     
     are 'little' as opposed to the 
     
     Great Blue Heron we see all the 
     
     time. Green Herons are certainly 
     
     'little' too but there is no 
     
     'Great' Green Heron, and hence no 
     
     'Little' Green.) 
     
    
   
   
    
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     n 
     
    
   
   
    
     The P. E. I. Field Checklist of Birds does not list Green Herons so I 
     
    
   
   
    
     presume this is a first record of the species here. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Green Herons occur as 
     
    
   
   
    
     stragglers in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and there are even old records of 
     
    
   
   
    
     nesting in New Brunswick. 
     
    
   
   
    
     -The desirability of having more Green Herons on P. E. I. should be 
     
    
   
   
    
     recognized. 
     
     of legs imaginable on a bird. 
     
    
   
   
    
     picture in your mind the tail of a Great Blue Heron.) 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     * 
     
     (Cow Creek is located in the eastern part of the Island near Naufrage.) 
     
    
   
   
    
     Although its tail is not at all memorable, it has the nicest set 
     
     (To get an idea of the complete bird, try to 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
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