The Great Blue Heron is a bird you might not usually associate with salt water. This four-foot tall, grayish blue and white bird stands in shallow ponds, marshes, and ditches on its long legs watching for fish, frogs, and other animals to eat. In summer, when Puget Sound's lowest tides are during the day, large groups of herons gather on mudflats to catch a meal. Where there's a shallow pool, Great Blue Herons can easily grab small fish or other creatures with quick thrusts of their long, pointy bills.

North America has other tall wading birds, but the Great Blue Heron is the most widespread. It has adapted to wetlands from Alaska to Florida and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast.

Around Puget Sound, places like Padilla ("Pa-dee-a") Bay teem with food for these stately birds. And that's why there are big heronries nearby, groups of large trees where herons build their stick nests in crowded groups. One small woodland may host hundreds of pairs. From their fragile-looking nests the herons, on wings spanning six feet, fly slowly out to the bays to catch fish, crabs, shrimp, and other food for themselves and their young. Returning to the nest, heron parents regurgitate a partly digested meal for each of their two or three chicks.

Clean water in saltwater bays supports the abundant life on which herons depend. You can help them by keeping pollutants from flowing into Puget Sound. Dispose of used motor oil properly. Wash your car at a commercial car wash that captures and filters waste water. And avoid using chemicals around your yard.