Tammy and tweetsters: The situation regarding the suggested plight of the
Great Blue Heron in the greater Puget Sound area is interesting on several
levels. Don Norman and I have spoken many times re. this subject and he has
some ideas maybe he will share independepently. For my own part, I
observered the heronry in Kenmore most of the year and found a very active
and growing population. This year we counted 53 nests with almost 40 or so
with activity and 38 with chicks. These numbers are cursory at best since we
observed from various points in the parking lot and street. We,
subsequently, counted 22 fledged/immature herons in and around the nests.
Its very difficult to see all the birds and nests in a busy heronry trying
to observe from the ground.

As I mentioned above the heronry is bordered on two sides by a Park and Ride
lot and a fairly busy public street, lots of dog walkers, pedestrians,
maintenance station people, a police station and lot, buses galore and the
usual bird watchers! In spite of this few if any herons jump up and fly off
during any of these activities and sometimes several are going on at once.
The flight patterns of the adults arriving and leaving throuhgout the year
have been consistent with very few exceptions. It appeared that weather was
as much a factor as any other single factor for the flight patterns of the
adults.

As the young started to fly they simply followed their parents to the
various hunting and roosting places along the slough and along the Lake
Washington shore. Following these birds allowed a better opportunity to
count total numbers than did watching the trees in many cases.

There is a healthy population of eagles that hunt the same general area, but
have not had the effect on this heronry that have been reported at other
locations, at least while we've been watching this location. I can't imagine
a much busier environment than this place with the nests less than 100' on
two sides from the aforementioned activities, so why these birds have not
abandoned this site is unclear. I've been visiting this site for years, but
have not been as keen with my notes as this year. Time will give a clearer
picture, but so far this medium sized heronry seems to be holding its own.


W.Darryl Thompson
Edmonds
<birds at cmc.net>













>Return-Path: <TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu>
>Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 19:37:14 -0700
>Reply-To: greg at halcyon.com
>Sender: TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu
>List-Help: <http://www.washington.edu/computing/listproc/>
>List-Unsubscribe:
<mailto:listproc at u.washington.edu?body=unsubscribe%20tweeters>
>List-Subscribe:
<mailto:listproc at u.washington.edu?body=subscribe%20tweeters%20YourName>
>List-Owner: <mailto:tweeters-request at u.washington.edu> (Human contact for
the list)
>List-Post: <mailto:tweeters at u.washington.edu>
>From: "G&T Pelletier" <greg at halcyon.com>
>To: "Tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
>Subject: Herons and Eagle Predation
>X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
>X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.2106.4
>X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN
>X-Envelope-To: <birds at cmc.net>
>
>For those who haven't heard:
>Great blue herons abandoned a heronry on McAllister Creek near Nisqually
>Wildlife Refuge. Bald eagles were seen feasting on chicks.
>
>Before you blame bald eagles only, consider some research:
>
>Herons will move a heronry, if disturbed by humans, several studies show.
>When people bother great blue herons during nesting time, the heronry
>reproductive rate often takes a nosedive or the herons move. Herons also
>need undisturbed areas for winter foraging. (Source: Robert Butler, "The
>Great Blue Heron.")
>
>The heronry along McAllister Creek had a lot of human disturbance from all
>sides including: nearby clear-cuts, construction, housing, lawn mowers,
>target shooters in nearby woods, Nisqually refuge trail crowds, power
>boaters, anglers, kayakers, canoeists, beachcombers, dog walkers, and
>sightseers. (The Nisqually/McAllister heronry was rated "high" for human
>disturbance by one study. Source: "How Many Herons Do We Want?," Puget Sound
>Research Proceedings '95.)
>
>It doesn't take much human activity to spook herons away from nesting sites
>for good; One waterfront landowner on Whidbey Island started construction of
>a road to his house near a heronry during nesting season. The bulldozer
>scared away the entire colony of herons and they never came back. (Source,
>ibid., p. 731)
>
>The decline in great blue herons is a most likely due to a heckuva lot of
>humans and a few bald eagles.
>
>Robert Butler said it best in "The Great Blue Heron":
>"The future for the heron does not look very rosy given the projected growth
>in human population around the Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound

>Compounding the problem of human disturbance is the increase in disturbance
>from bald eagles."
>
>Tammy Pelletier
>Olympia, WA
>e-mail: greg at halcyon.com
>
W.Darryl Thompson