Young heron

On July 4, we went to the end of the road to observe the herons and saw a young heron walking along a log on the forest floor. Our assumption was this it had fallen or been pushed out of the nest, possibly when attempting to fly.

The bird was 2/3 the size of an adult bird, had a yellow beak but nondescript plumage. We left it to wander the forest since none of us were capable of climbing up to the nest to put it back.

There are still no further signs of construction at the site.

Best case scenario

I was thinking about Emily's comments (see last post) and came to the conclusion that the best outcome for the rookery might result if someone bought the land (parcel # 09030002001) for speculation, a place to park some money (since the stock market is not a good parking spot). Then the townhomes would be built on the lower parcel, and either the birds would move or tolerate the disturbance. There is a colony at Stanley Park in B.C. that tolerates disturbance and eagles--amazingly.

Then, later, development would come, or not. I think being in proximity to the rookery would be a big asset for homeowners, if they are passionate enough about nature to want to tolerate the noise.

More townhomes?

Amy Buckler, planner for the city, said that (back in March) Glenn Wells, the architect/developer for the townhomes, had what's called a "pre-submission hearing" to build 9 more townhomes on the land that the rookery occupies. He is not listed as the owner of the land (which is, apparently, for sale) but people can request such a hearing to discuss the feasability of a proposal before, say, the purchase of a piece of property for development, to let the builder know what sort of issues they would have to confront.

The city's critical areas ordinance provides protection for endangered species, so great blue herons present no barrier to development except that their nests are protected during the breeding season. The urban forester consults with developers to assess whether certain trees are to be preserved, but the presence of nests do not confer special consideration for trees.

The heron nests were discussed at the hearing. Amy Buckler said she'd let olyfriendsofherons.org know if there is any further action on the property.

Land sale

The grapevine reports that the parcel on which the nests are actually located is up for sale (currently, the road to the development has been cleared through this parcel, #09030002001). The web site zillow.com says that it comprises 2.8 acres and values it at $242,000.

Olyfriendsofherons is waiting to hear back from the city about the status of the land. And what protection, if any, is given to the trees in which nests are located.

No construction has begun yet, though the site for the townhomes, directly east of the rookery, has been cleared.

One gone

The clattering of the new hatchlings made it apparent, that when a person stood at the end of the road, there was a nest almost directly overhead. However, that nest now appears to be abandoned, and I wonder if this was a result of its proximity to all the neighborhood disturbances--and viewers like me.

Yesterday

Yesterday, a clucking/clattering sound came from the closest nest, steady but irregular (building then tapering but never dying entirely.) I though at first it was starlings, but realized that now is the time for chicks to be hatching. Other nests that earlier had appeared abandoned had birds standing on them, though some are indeed abandoned. Not as many as I feared. Perhaps birds were hunkered down on eggs and therefore not visible.

I'm reading a library book, The Great Blue Heron, by Robert Butler, who draws his data from coastal B.C. Fledging of young takes 3 months, according to Butler, so given an August 15 end-of-breeding date here in Olympia, now is the time for hatching of chicks.

A man riding along Rogers St with 5 small children on bicycles pointed down toward where I was parked and said: "The herons live down that street." So the secret location of the rookery is out.

Butler mentions, however, the urban locations of some B.C. rookeries--most notably the longstanding one in Stanley Park.

Not looking good

About a week ago I saw, out my window, a large bird flying toward the rookery, and I thought: oh nice, a heron...then I saw that the large bird had a white tail and I thought: uh oh.

Ever since, I've been seeing fewer and fewer birds on nests at the rookery. For the last two days, I've seen only one bird sitting on a nest.

The leaves eclipse the nests, however. The nests are lare enough that a bird hunkered down in one would not be visible. But there is less activity now, fewer birds to be seen flying around or perched.