Vancouver's Stanley Park herons go live online with webcam

Birdwatchers and anyone with a bit of curiosity are now able to get up close and personal with Stanley Park's herons using a new webcam that is streaming their nests live online.

The webcam, which was set up by the Vancouver Park Board, is broadcasting the long-legged Pacific great blue herons as they go about their daily lives courting, mating, laying eggs and hatching in early April.

Stanley Park is home to one of North America's largest urban heron colonies and the camera will take viewers right inside their nests in the trees near the park board's head office at 2099 Beach Avenue.

• Watch the heron webcam
• Ask expert about the birds on Twitter at #herontalk.

Last year the heron colony had 116 nests and produced 131 fledgling herons. Herons have been nesting in the park since at least 1921.

There are about 4,000 to 5,000 herons in Canada and the Pacific great blue heron has been designated a "special concern" under the Species at Risk Act.