Love to go fishing? So does the great blue heron! If you’re quiet and watchful while you explore near ponds and streamsides, you may spot a great blue heron wading or waiting patiently through shallow water. When they spot their next morsel – FLASH – their long neck and sharp bill stretch out and catch their prey. Great blue herons eat insects, fish, and even small mammals. When they’re not hunting, herons may be found in a rookery – large nests that are built in trees near the water. Rookeries can have as few as five nests, or as many as 500! Nests may be up to 100 feet off the ground, and young herons will live there from the time they hatch until they learn to fly, about two months later.