Great Blue Herons and Dogs in Florida

A great blue heron standing on the bank of a Florida retention pond is not tame, it is just patient. It is also nearly four feet tall with a spear for a bill, and a heron that feels cornered will use it. Keep your dog on a short leash, give herons a wide path, and never let the dog chase one toward the water – the water is where Florida keeps its alligators and snakes.

Where great blue herons turn up in Florida

Everywhere wet. FWC’s breeding bird atlas describes the great blue heron as a permanent resident of wetlands throughout the state, often seen along ponds, lakes and canals in housing developments, or loafing on boat docks and fishing piers waiting for handouts from anglers. They also work marshes, beaches, mangrove shorelines, golf-course ponds and neighborhood stormwater ponds. They are common across the peninsula and less so in the Panhandle.

Numbers go up from October through April, when migrants from farther north join the year-round residents, so a winter visit is prime heron season. They feed by standing still or wading slowly at the water’s edge, then striking fish and other prey with the bill. They also feed at night, so a heron on the dock at 10 p.m. is not lost.

People often call them cranes. They are not. Florida’s sandhill cranes are gray with a red cap and walk around lawns in pairs and family groups. The great blue heron is our largest dark heron, blue-gray with a white face and a black plume over the eye.

The white one in the Keys

In the Florida Keys you may see an all-white heron the size of a great blue. That is the great white heron, a white form of the great blue heron. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service set aside the Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge for it in 1938 – about 50 miles of shallow water and mangrove islands in the Lower Keys backcountry, reachable only by boat. If you go by boat with a dog, note that the refuge rules say no pets on its beaches.

How big they are, and why that matters to a dog

The National Park Service puts a great blue heron at about 46 inches tall with a wingspan around six feet. That is taller than most dogs at the shoulder by a wide margin, and the long, sharp bill sits at about the height of a medium dog’s face.

A healthy heron usually just flies off when a dog comes at it. The problems come when it cannot:

• An injured heron, or one tangled in fishing line, cannot escape and will defend itself with sharp jabs of the bill.
• A heron trapped against a fence, pool screen or seawall is in the same position.
• A young bird that cannot fly well yet has fewer options than an adult.

If your dog gets jabbed, check the face, eyes and muzzle. Any injury near the eye, or any puncture, needs a veterinarian that day – bill wounds are small on the surface and can be deep.

Retention ponds, golf courses and fishing piers

Most heron-and-dog encounters happen in three places.

Neighborhood ponds. Many Florida neighborhoods have herons standing around retention ponds, and many rentals back onto one. Those same ponds may contain alligators and snakes, and a dog chasing a heron is a dog running to the water’s edge at full speed. Walk the side of the path away from the water and do not let the dog chase a bird toward the bank.

Golf courses and parks. Herons frequently hunt in the open grass around ponds. Give them a wide path and keep walking.

Piers, boat ramps and fish-cleaning stations. Herons that have learned to expect handouts get bold, and they will stand next to a fish-cleaning table waiting for scraps. That brings them close to dogs at exactly the moment everyone is distracted. Keep dogs leashed and away from birds working the anglers. The same spots also collect hooks and discarded line, which hurt herons and dogs alike.

Nests, rookeries and the law

Great blue herons usually nest in colonies, from a few pairs to hundreds of nests, often mixed with other wading birds, brown pelicans, anhingas and cormorants. Nests are large stick platforms in shrubs or trees, anywhere from near the ground to about 100 feet up. According to FWC’s atlas, eggs can be laid anytime from mid-September to late May, and South Florida pairs typically start earlier, January to March, than birds farther north. In other words, some heron somewhere in Florida is nesting most of the year.

Great blue herons are protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service warns that people getting too close to rookeries can frighten young birds out of their nests before they are ready. A barking dog under a rookery tree does the same thing. Avoid nesting trees and rookery islands with a dog, and if birds start flushing off nests as you approach, back away.

Do not feed wild herons, and do not toss them your fish scraps. Feeding teaches them to lose their natural wariness, approach people and gather in places where they get hurt – on busy piers, near traffic, and next to curious dogs.

Injured or tangled herons

If a heron is injured or wrapped in line, keep your dog away and do not try to grab it yourself. Large wading birds defend themselves forcefully. Contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator from FWC’s county-by-county list, or call the FWC Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-3922, and keep an eye on the bird from a distance until help arrives.

Around herons with a dog: what to do

• Use a short leash around wetlands, ponds, piers and golf-course water.
• Pass herons on the far side of the path and keep moving – no stopping for the dog to stare.
• Never let the dog chase a bird toward water, where alligators and snakes may be waiting.
• Stay clear of rookery trees and islands, especially from winter through spring.
• Keep dogs away from fish-cleaning stations and pick up any line or hooks you see.
• If your dog is jabbed near the eye or has a puncture, go to a vet the same day.

Great blue herons are easy to admire from a distance, and that distance protects both the bird and your dog. For more, see Florida birdwatching with a dog, Florida birds dogs should never chase and pelicans and pets.