$60.00 – $760.00
This stately, commanding bird is the largest heron in North America, the subject of much art and mythology. It’s easy to see why they represent discernment, patience, balance, and striking at opportunity. Great Blue Herons are known for their slow stalk, often standing still waiting for prey, then striking in a flash.
Males and females are similar in appearance, with large bills, black crowns on whitish heads, and gray plumage. Their calls are squawkish, heard across marshes, lakeshores, and tideflats. Diet varies; they eat mostly fish, but also frogs, salamanders, turtles, snakes, insects, rodents, birds. They may also stalk small rodents in fields, or small water birds at marsh edges. Blue Herons have benefitted from the recovery of beaver populations, which create swamps and meadows. For how large these herons are, they only weigh 5-6 pounds due to the hollow bone structure all birds have.
Males choose nest sites and attract females by stretching their necks up with bills pointing skyward, flying in circles above the colony with necks extended, and then snapping their bills shut. Nests are gigantic, built in trees or shrubs. Females lay 3 to 5 eggs, and both parents incubate and care for the young. Heron chicks leave the nest after 65-90 days.
Blue heron populations are stable, and depend on wetland habitat. They remain vulnerable to habitat loss and human impacts such as traffic, logging, motorboats, and other intrusions that can disrupt nesting colonies. Other threats include chemical pollutants or other causes of reduced water quality.
This is a matte giclee print made with archival inks with a professional printer.
All prints are made-to-order.
Rolled/flat prints: Come with no border, ready for any standard-size frame
Stretched-only prints: Stretched all the way around the sides of a canvas frame (image is wrapped, shown in photos)
Stretched with a hardwood float frame: Image is stretched on a canvas frame and placed in a hardwood float frame of your choice (see frame options)
Processing time: Please allow for 7-10 days for processing of rolled prints. Stretched and stretched + framed options require an extra 2-3 weeks for processing
All orders will be shipped in 3-10 business days via USPS Priority mail, UPS or FedEx, depending on the size of the item and whether framing was desired. For medium to larger works, and if crating is needed to safely ship, it will be UPS or FedEX. USPS can ship larger works but it is a lot more expensive!
If I anticipate framing will take longer for any reason, I will reach out and let you know! You will receive a tracking number via email once the work has shipped.
If you are in the Fargo-Moorhead area and wish to pick it up, please select STUDIOPICKUP at checkout. I will have a table in the front lobby with your piece labeled for pick-up between the hours of 8 AM and 5 PM. I will always try to say hello if I am in the studio!
Thank you for supporting a small business!