Over the past few days, an eagle has been spending hours at a time in the
heron colony at Kiwanis Ravine (near the Ballard Locks). This was first
noticed on Friday. A number of folks took two-hour shifts over the weekend
monitoring the activity from the pedestrian bridge over the RR tracks.

On Saturday, an eagle circled overhead, but did not enter the colony during
my shift from 4 pm to 6 pm.

On Sunday, when I arrived at 4 pm, the eagle had already been in the colony
for more than an hour. It didn't leave until after 6 pm. During this time
there were up to 15 herons visible. When I first arrived, the eagle was on a
branch in the middle of the colony. As two crows pestered the eagle, it
moved to a slightly lower branch. It eventually settled in a heron nest.

It was clearly stressful for all (people and herons).

There are very young herons visible and audible in the colony.

I imagine this eagle's activities in the colony will continue.....I
understand that today Kate Stenberg at King County was going to help schedule
folks who wanted to monitor the colony.

Didi Catherine Anstett
mailto: catherine.anstett at ci.seattle.wa.us
or didianstet at aol.com