I talked to Jim Pruske this morning concerning his observations of
Bald Eagles entering the heronry at McAllister Creek, just off the Nisqually
National Wildlife Refuge property (on state Fish and Wildlife land).
Apparently, only adult eagles were seen entering the heronry. It is
unclear how many birds were involved. Jim got some of his information
from a refuge volunteer who I haven't talked to.

The heronry on McAllister Creek has been there for a long time, at least
since the mid-1980's. The Bald Eagle pair moved in for the 1991 nesting
season and, pretty soon thereafter, took to snacking on herons. In 1994,
another pair of Bald Eagles moved in just around the head of land on
Puget Sound where Luhr Beach is located. Apparently, about five years
ago a good portion of the herons shifted their nesting downstream,
further from the Bald Eagles that had moved in and proven to be such
unfriendly neighbors. Unfortunately, they may had moved themselves into
a position at the very cusp of the territories of two pairs of Bald Eagles
that forage in the area during the herons' breeding season. The result
is likely a good potential that both nesting pairs of eagles take advantage
of the opportunity for a heron meal, while the other pair isn't looking.

Anyway, that's my version of the McAllister Creek heron story, strung together
out of some recorded facts, a few hazy memories, and liberal use of story-
telling license.

Kelly McAllister

P.S. Don Norman published a decent paper on Bald Eagle incursions in heronries
in the journal Colonial Waterbirds. He and his co-authors put in quite a bit
of observation time and documented two incursions. There is so much second
and third-hand story telling go around with regard to Bald Eagles and herons
that some well-documented observations organized into clear, concise notes
for publication in journals would be the cat's pajamas right now.