Sample Investigation
Dynamics of the Morris Great Blue Heron Rookery
This skeleton of a Great Blue Heron is currently on display in the IMSA Grainger Center for Imagination and Inquiry. The carcass of this heron, cause of death unknown, was cleaned
by
Jonathan Warnock
using Dermestid beetles. Jon assembled and mounted the skeleton in the 2001-2002 school year as part of a multi-year Student Inquiry and Research team effort to better understand the Great Blue Heron.
The Great Blue Heron was placed on the Illlinois Endangered Species list in 1977, since its habitat was threatened by wetland loss due to drainage, filling, clearing, and urban development. Since that time, efforts to understand and protect their wetland habitat and nesting sites have helped return the Great Blue Heron species to non-threatened status with healthy population sizes.
This team effort is further described in the following abstracts: