Hi Tweets,





It has been a mini fall out in my yard the past week and a half! Fun
neotrops including Townsend's Warbler, BH Grosbeak, Wilson's Warbler,
Rufous Hummingbird, OC Warbler and likely others have slipped through -
as well as busy nesting Bewick's Wrens and BC Chickadees - all from the
back deck ; ) The area Cooper's hawks have been working the
neighborhood a bit more it seems - maybe due to the recent increase of
migrants floating through - more fish in the local pond sort to speak?



Herons have been a sporadic topic recently with the apparent current
season abandonment of local Black River and Medina colonies. I wanted
to ask that folks send a note to WDFW regarding any "fly-by night" new
colonies that are noticed while out and about. Also, old nest sites
that have been inactive or shown little use in recent times may start to
reinitiate so please send an observation on those sites if you happen by
a spot you know of. Observations are greatly appreciated!



As many familiar with our local colonies have noticed over time some
herons will occasionally cleave off or abandon historical colonies and
then attempt these hide-go-seek colonies nearby a known site, or in
another area altogether. Some older colonies that are sporadically used
also may have a ramp-up in use, anecdotally, when the larger historical
colonies flux in use for various reasons in a given season. Two
examples that have seemingly followed this trend is the old Dumas Bay
colony and also a small colony at Redondo Beach - both showing some
activity again this year, with Redondo just showing up shortly after
Black River birds decided to take a hike seemingly for this season -
birds aren't marked so can't say for sure they came from Black
River...but they showed the same day regular heron watchers with Herons
Forever noticed Black River was not being used much, if at all, after
early season activity. Also, the Medina colony seems to have moved just
north, across the street, into the Overlake Golf Course (one can see the
roughly 10 nests in the cottonwoods along the public path that borders
the west end of the golf course). Similarly, the Matthew's Beach colony
seems to have set-up down the street from the site they've used the past
5 years or so.



It is extremely helpful to keep tabs on these small (sometimes large)
new nest sites that tend to set-up quickly. Some of these sites have
become more established over the past decade or so; some seem, so far, a
bit more transient. Thanks for your observations and assistance in
gaining further understanding of how these birds utilize the landscape
and respond to predator pressure and a dynamic urbanized environment as
our largest, visually obvious, colonial nesting ardeid. This goes
without saying, but to provide for a quick thought of consideration -
for those colonies that do not have regular foot traffic nearby (an
exception would be the now three year old colony at UW Rainier Vista -
great photo opportunities); please respect the herons' nesting needs and
try to keep a buffer distance away so as to avoid disturbance or calling
attention of other area wildlife (such as area predators) to the nests
from direct human presence or creating paths in vegetation to a nest
site - every little bit helps.



Happy spring migration!



Chris Anderson

N. Seattle