Great Blue Heron in February

February still feels like deep winter, but days are lengthening and the first stirrings of the breeding season begin — resident birds start singing on mild mornings and some early nesters are already claiming territories. Late-winter storms can be the hardest feeding days of the year.

For the Great Blue Heron specifically, February is a winter month inside the nesting season — one of the most active and demanding periods of this bird's year. Across the 60 states and provinces where great blue herons occur, what the bird is doing this month depends heavily on latitude — the details below break it down by band.

Southern states

absent

Mid-latitudes

year-round resident

Northern states & Canada

absent

In February, great blue herons are absent in the South, year-round resident across the mid-latitudes, and absent in the northern states and Canada. That north–south split is the defining feature of this month: where you live changes which version of this bird you're looking at.

February is inside the Great Blue Heron nesting season — about a month earlier in the South and a month later in the North. Nest: stick platform high in trees, usually in colonies. Clutch 2–7 eggs, incubation 25–30 days, 1 per season.

In the South the season is already underway, while northern birds are still settling territories — a pair in Florida or Texas may be on eggs weeks before a pair in Minnesota or Ontario has even chosen a nest site. During the nesting months, adults switch to protein-rich foods for their young, become more secretive around the nest site, and often visit feeders in quick, purposeful trips rather than lingering.

• Fish and any open-water prey

A regular at backyard ponds; net or decoy-protect ornamental fish if one moves in.

Don't let feeders run empty during late-winter storms; birds burn enormous energy staying warm. This is also the month to clean and repair nest boxes before early nesters move in.

Full Great Blue Heron diet guide → · Best feeder for great blue herons →

In February, the best watching is around food rather than the nest — adults make repeated foraging trips and are most visible at dawn and dusk. Give nesting birds space: if a bird is carrying food or scolding you persistently, you're close to a nest and should back off.

The state guides below show exactly where in your region great blue herons are expected this month and which native plants hold them in a yard.

AlabamaAlbertaArizonaArkansasBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareFloridaGeorgiaIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineManitoba