Black River Notes

No more notes til around February when the nesting season begins again. However, photos continue!

Farewell to fledglings at Black River. Soon after I got there today I was aware of three. Then things got a little confused and it may be that there were four. There were no flights in or out of the nest area by either fledlgings or adults. They have all fledged. The fourth photo shows three of them together. I believe these may be the last three fledglings of this season at Black River. If you go soon, you may see them. I expect them to be gone by the time I get there next week.

Besides the fledglings there were some surprises today. In the meadow, one baby tree swallow was in the nest box in the meadow. This must be the second time this nest was used this year. I have pictures of three babies in this box on June 7th of this year.

There has been a lot of flicker activity the last couple of weeks at Black River. I finally got a reasonable opportunity for a photo today. This one turned out to be what is termed an Intergrade Northern Flicker. Having both a red mustache and a red patch at the rear of the head signifies that it is a hybrid between red-shafted and yellow-shafted flickers.

At the end of the day, in the shadows, far across the pond, was a juvenile green heron. I have seen one so often at Marymoor Park lately I was mentally tuned in to recognize it. I saw a shape in shadows that didn't have the right posture for a duck. And there he was.

The two juvenile pied-billed grebes are still in the same area of the pond. It seems like their head-striping is beginning to fade. They were both pretty active hunting for themselves, with some success, as you can see. An adult also had a little luck, if you want to call that thing "luck".

One of those pesky eagles was around today. It dropped down from the trees across the pond and began a gliding descent. I heard a squawk, I thought, and pursued to check it out. However, I couldn't find the eagle anywhere. I think it made a pass at something, missed, and left. I didn't see one again.

Ok, here's the way it was. On I-405, on the way to Black River, my car thermometer got up to 111. As I parked at 1:45, it had fallen to 109. I figure that on really hot days, the temperature differential between sun-on-ashpalt and shade is about 10 degrees. So, I'll call it 99 when I arrived. The car also said 109 when I left at 6:30. The life-threatening part of this expedition was the 200 foot walk across the meadow in the sun. Once down by the pond, it was mostly shade and merely miserable.

When I got home it was 95 in the shade of my backyard. A little after 10:00, it has dropped like a rock to 83. Inside, it is 85. Of course, with the fan going, it feels lilke a pleasant 84. Who do you wave the white flag at? More of the same tomorrow, maybe slightly less.

But, the Black River trip paid off. To my great surprise, there were more herons than I expected, more of everything than I expected, and there was a lot of activity. We'll start with the herons. The place expected to have the most fledglings is the pond section nearest the meadow trail. I saw only two there at firs, but discovered another six down toward the dam. You see one of them on the far shore entreating the gods for cooler weather. He thought it was 105 but I checked the weather service statistics for the Renton airport, two miles away. At the time of that photo it was only 101. Two hours later it had spiked to 105, I'm sure a new all-time record for this area.

As the afternoon progressed, most of the action did turn out to be in the area near the meadow trail. The next seven photos show some of it. In the first, you see a fledgling who is walking down the log into the water. That part was apparently slimy and he slipped and fell into the water, face down. The last two of that sequence show a fledgling landing on that same log, with another already there. Apparently it is a one-heron log. The current occupant proceeded to force the new arrival up the log until it decided to abandon ship.

There was an eagle around most of the time I was there. It was often seen flying low over the pond and stopping in various trees, barely visible. Occasionally, it would circle over the pond, causing the mallards to sound an alarm and the herons to jerk their heads to attention. On one occasion, though, two herons took flight, but one stayed put on that same log. The eagle landed about thirty feet directly above the fledglling, who somehow seemed unaware of the eagle. I had really bad feelings about what was likely to happen so I decided to play god and intervene. I have unintentionally spooked many herons at that same location, so I was optimistic. I yelled, whistled, and clapped my hands till they hurt. They both ignored me and I gave up. However, in about two minutess, for whatever reason, the fledgling took off for the dam area. Not much later the eagle emerged, spooked two more herons to flight and dropped to the shore. For a short time it seemed to be eating something but it must have been very small, perhaps a remnant of something. Even with the scope I couldn't see anything. After several hours of fooling around, the eagle was still empty handed when I left.

With the heat, the bird activity was surprising: a wren, roaming chickadees and bushtits, robins, and several flickers calling often. The two juvenile pied-billed grebes were again near the beaver lodge. Compare their face markings with that of the adult who was down by the dam. That one is probably a parent to the two juveniles, who seemed to now be on their own.

I should give an estimate of the number of herons. I believe I may have seen 10-15 today, with one or two being yearlings. Looking through the scope in the small area which seemed to have a high density of nests, I saw only one bird. There was very little flying into or out of the colony. One adult and one fledgling that I saw. There were two episodes of feeding, about an hour apart and it could have been the same nest. Mostly it was very quiet. I think things are really winding down now. I am much inclined to stick with my previous guess that are 35-50 fledglings this year.

We had a pretty good turnout for the Black River field trip this afternoon. Especially considering a fair in Renton and a super-fair in Redmond, and that it was muggy with temperatures in the mid-eighties. I think we had...men, women, and kids....pushing thirty, plus some of us volunteers to offer scopes and wild-guesses answering questions.

The number of fledglings seen was definitely down from the number last seen by me. Along the shoreline today I saw a total of six. Probably four in the trees trying to hang on. Perhaps 4-8 returning to nests. But don't add these all up. There are surely duplicates. I'd guess there were perhaps 10 or so different fledglings seen today. There were more juveniles seen in the nests but it is not possible to differentiate between them and fledglings since the latter often return to the nests. In fact, it seemed that by the end of the day (around 7:00 PM), all had returned to their nests.

To play a numbers game, let's say that all of the 15-20 seen two weeks ago are now gone. If we add in another ten or so from today, plus ten or so still in nests, the total number of fledglings this year may be around 40. My personal bounds on it are between 35 and 50. Next Wednesday may tell the tale. Will there be a lot, and today was anomalously low? Or will the number again decline. We shall see.

The next three photos show three fledglings in the pond. The next one shows one on a dead branch at the shoreline, closer to the nests. Then you see two that have landed in awkward places within the colony. They don't stay long. They look around some, wobble around some, then take off for wherever.

We interrupt this heron story for an eagle story. We had hoped maybe they were on a long vacation. Not so. Both were around today. A couple of times they swooped at ducks without success. One of them went on to land in the water in the far corner of the pond. After a few minutes it took off. About a half hour later, that one or the other landed in the trees across the pond near the heron colony. However, no encroachment was made. Later it came out, made a pass at some ducks and left.

So back to the heron story.....I noticed a heron fledgling making a suicidal landing in the eagle tree (the one with the eagle nest). Then, with the scope, I found that there were really two of them there. Bernie and I speculated on whether they had an appreciation yet for the danger of eagles. Soon, one of the two left on his own, leaving the other. In about ten minutes, an eagle came across the pond headed for the tree. The remaining fledgling saw it coming and took off with classic heron squawk of indignation. Questioned answered.

What else? Lots of ducklings again, mostly gadwalls, I think. I believe Bernie saw a female wood duck with a duckling, but I missed it. Also on the pond were the first juvenile pied-billed grebes this year. You see one of two near the beaver lodge.

Things are buzzing at Black River. Fledglings dominate your attention. They tend to congregate in one particular area across from where the meadow trail drops down to the pond, seen in the first photo. There are ten herons visible in the photo, but two of them are adults. The dense shrubbery along the pond shoreline affords limited visibility, but the fledglings can be seen at very places along the far shore as you walk down towards the colony. Susan Anderegg got there shortly before me. While I was taking the first set of pictures, she was down at the main viewing area. We compared notes when she came back on the way to her car. I subscribe to her estimate of around 17 fledglings, seen. Of course, we should assume others not seen and some in the nests. The fledgllings will hang around the colony for perhaps a couple of weeks, some shorter, some longer. Unlike many other birds, if they go back to the nest, they will be fed by an adult. Otherwise, not. It was common to see fledglings returning to the colony, presumably for this purpose. This makes it tough to assess colony size from the squawking during feeding because you may be hearing birds that have already fledged.

We wonder how many fledglings will be produced this year. My guess is that so far, maybe 20. My own opinion is that, given the lateness of the season, the eagle troubles, the amount of flying activity, and the frequency and volume of food fights, it will be about the same as last year. My own estimate of the number of fledglings last year was around 40. I'll bet the error bars on that are at least +/- ten. Frankly, I don't care much if it is 30 or 80. The colony will again produce a significant number of fledglings, in spite of terrible pressure from the eagles. Regardless of the diminished size of the colony, its accessibility to human visitors, and the visibility afforded of the great blue heron life cycle, makes this an important nature preserve.

And so, on to pictures. There are a number of views of both fledglings and adults in the "congregating" area. Next are a couple of fledglings who have found safe harbor to relax and ponder their next move. By the way, think about this. How in the world do these guys find their way back to their nest for feeding. They must fly hundreds of feet down the pond, circle, and rise to a hundred feet or so and somehow sort out which nest is theirs. You see photos of some of this flying. You also see one who is confused and is setting down on a perch that he will regret.

Now for other things. There were two kingfishers today. The first seen is a juvenile, I believe, but maybe it is an adult male. I'm so confused, I hope I never see another kingfisher. The next two are definitely a female adult, though. (Maybe). Ok, Mike, it's your turn.

Unfortunately, we can't forget the eagles. I didn't see them last week. This week, both were in the eagle tree for hours. Then one disappeared somewhere. Later, the remaining eagle left the eagle tree and entered the Protected Forest, perching near the colony. It was still there when I left at 8:00. During the 5 1/2 hours I was there, the eagles did not bother the colony. I am going to assume nothing happened after I left. I told Susan I wish an eagle would go into one of the nests with the older nestlings. We saw two nestlings kill a third sibling a couple of years ago. Any eagle who attacks a nest with sizable nestlings in it, takes his life in his own hands. Remember, in the wild kingdom, just getting injured can be a death sentence.

First, after an apparent absence of over a week, the hairy woodpecker juvenile and his dad returned. The dad seems to be the one giving post-nest care and training. First, you see dad scattering my expensive bird seed all over the place. However, I suppose the juncos will take care of it. Next, you see dad where he should be....working on insects on a tree trunk. That picture is taken with a 1/20 second exporsure. Nothing succeeds like luck. Next is junior, on a limb nearby.

In the greenbelt, Woody, Jr., is out and around. Ronan and I happened on him, along with his two parents. They knew better than to allow any photographs. We know this is a juvenile because of his dingy, orangey crest, and his dark eyes. Unless someone disagrees, of course!

Now to Black River.....there was a fledgling today. He came flying from the general direction of the beaver lodge and landed across the pond. Is he the same one I photographed last week? Who knows! I met a group of people there when I first arrived who had seen seen three herons that might be fledglings. They didn't have the knowledge or equipment to be sure. One was only partially visible near the pond edge. The other was in the water. The third was flying at around mid-tree level. I told them it was probable it was a fledging. Since the adults don't generally gather food at Black River, they would not have occasion to be that low. Unfortunately, these sightings were all separated in space and time, so it is possible they were all the same bird, and possibly the same one that I saw. So, the number of fledglings at this point is somewhere between 1 and 5, but I seriously doubt 5. My guess is 1-3.

I checked the "most visible" nest again, which had two nestlings last week. The photo today shows there are still two. The following photo shows poop on leaves below a group of nests, a very good sign. This means young, large herons are up above and pooping over the side of nests that are not visible to the eye. I thought there was a reasonable amount of flying today and at times, the food fights among the nestlings were quite loud. I think next week we will definitely see more fledlings. Another good sign was that I saw nothing of the eagles while I was there.

There is a large population of ducks, mallards and gadwalls, on the pond right now. By that I mean, 15-20 adults, such as the male mallard in the next photo. Non-birders I occasionally talk to are always surprised to learn that the beautiful male mallard with the bright green head looks very much like the drab female in the non-breeding period from June to September.

There were also a lot of ducklilngs on the pond. I would guess just as many as there were adults. There are two photos of one duckling, taken with the scope and Nikon camera (approximately $3,000). The second duckling is photographed with the Panasonic camera plus teleconverter (approximately $400). Hmmmm. There is a lesson here. When photographing wildlife, get as close as you can, without distburbing them.

Well, there was one goose today. Surprisingly, we haven't (that I know of) seen any goslings on the pond, even though I sent a photo of goose eggs awhile back. Anyway, one of these has an exceedingly clever caption...."goose - - down". Get it? Goose down? Oh, forget it!

Congratulations go to the Black River herons. The first 2009 fledgling was spotted today by Bob. It is toward the dam, about three hundred feet from the colony. When first seen, it was on a log (the first four photos). Later, as went to our cars, we saw it in the water, apparently hunting. I assume it is the same bird, but who knows, really. The timing for this guy is: incubation beginining around April 1st, hatching around May 1st, and fledging around July 1st. The first photo this year that I have of an adult apparently sitting on eggs is July 3rd, so it all sort of fits together. That means this guy is from an early clutch in which at least he survived eagle predation.

Another note on timing. Last year, the first of my photos showing an adult on eggs was on March 19th. The first fledgling photo was on June 11. Again, it all sort of holds together - remembering that I only go once a week. It seems we are something like 1 1/2 weeks later than last year. From the flying activity, the amount of clucking by chicks, and glimpses of nests through scopes, it appears the colony will again fledge a significant number. Not as many as in the old pre-eagle days, but a respectable number.

Speaking of eagles, Bonnie and Clyde are still on the scene. Susan Anderegg says she was there during an apparent attack on Sunday (?). Today, while we were there, no attack. However, at the time we left, Clyde was in the eagle tree, 500 feet away, and Bonnie was across the pond, near the nests, probably to cause trouble.

We saw many ducklings of various ages today. On the P1 pond (the pond at Black River), you see the nine mallard ducklings lined up on a log across the pond. There were a number of older gadwall ducklings constantly on the pond. We wondered why the eagles left them alone.

Over in the Waterworks Garden, spirea has blossomed out and is being tended to by the bees. In the grotto, the day lilly. Nearby a small group of chickadees was making its way along the trail. However, the stars of the Waterworks today were mallard juveniles, not yet flight-worthy, that were diving in a small pond, literally at our feet. Mallards aren't normally diving ducks, but they are known to do it occasionally. I don't know what the attraction was down there. There were about six of them and they were doing it feverishly.

Headed down to heron land, there was something unusual going on in the bark of the trail. A vole was tunneling under the bark, maybe hunting for food. The tunneling wound around in an area about 4x4 feet. This guy is not a baby.....and he's not going to be an adult for much longer if he doesn't stay away from the trail!

There are very few heron nests visible now because of the leaves. The photo with two nestlings is the same one as last week, when it had three nestlings. They are now down to two. Today, the volume of clucking seemed lower and the amount of adult flying seemed less but it is difficult to reach a conclusion from this. It goes in waves. And with the herons having built nests farther from the pond, the clucking would naturally be softer. Also, adults could be leaving from the backside of the forest and we would never see them. I'm sure the eagles are still being a problem. I know they were seen this morning, but they were not around this afternoon while we were there.

Now to the stars of the baby show. Bernie showed me the recently found hummingbird nest at Black River. From the first four photos, they are obviously at an advanced age. One is seen outside the nest a few inches. Too bad I didn't know about the nest sooner to get photos at a younger age. Seeing only the nestlings, we couldn't tell whether they were rufous or Anna's hummingbirds. As we got more concerned they were orphans, the mother did finally arrive to feed them. She was easily recognizable as an Anna's hummingbird. Since they are here all year and start nesting early in spring, this is probably the second batch this year.

Well, it was to Black River this morning for the work party. Ah, but too too few people, too little time, and too little bark. Nevertheless, we did get several trouble areas of the Black River trails fixed up. And I commend the City of Renton for their support. They have a van chocked full of tools and they provided the bark. And with an obvious people shortage (there were seven of us), their guy Chris stepped in full force. And thanks to the folks who were able to make it from the Puget Sound Educational Service District. And to Ming, Black River devotee and fellow email-list member. We all worked like trojans. The urgent-care centers will be overflowing tonight and tomorrow.

Since the pain won't really set in till tomorrow, I had a little left to hang around Black River for another few hours. There is one heron nest picture. There was lots of heron chick noise, clucking and squawking in food fights. And a typical amount of flying in and out.

Minus my camera, I made a quick check of the herons and eagles before work started. Both eages were in their tree, one in the nest, seemingly eating, but who knows what. During the six hours I was there today, there may have been one eagle incident, but that is not clear. At any rate, they were gone when I left.

Today, it was Black River as usual on Wednesdays. I'm running late tonight and a little long on megapixels, but there was lots going on. Bob, Bernie, and I were there roughly from 2 to 7, plus some. Susanne had been there earlier with visitors from the City of Renton, and her new exchange student from Japan. The latter two, plus Susan Anderegg, later appeared at around 7. I hope people will forgive me for not putting in all the names, but it's not my strong suit, I'm sorry to say.

Always, always, first, the herons. At my arrival I was a little concerned that I wasn't hearing the volume of clucking by the chicks that we had heard the past two weeks. Bob and Bernie agreed when they came later. However, as the afternoon progressed, the chicks became more vocal and I came to think it was comparable to last week, after all. I am sad to report that the nest I have been featuring the last few weeks is now defunct. First there were three chicks, then one, and today, none. The nest is abandoned. It makes my blood boil and you know who is to blame. This nest had good visibility to us and apparently to the eagles too. However, on the western side of the colony there is a dense area of nests that seems to be doing ok. There is a decent view into one that currently has three chicks, as seen in the first two photos.

And now the eagles. It was Ming, I believe, who named them Bonnie and Clyde. What great names for these two, damn them. Well, they are still hanging around. You would think that since their nest failed, they would go to Hawaii or at least Lake Washington. Instead they hang around causing trouble. Both were in the eagle tree when I arrived today. Not a good sign. By late afternoon, they had moved into heron land in the Protected Forest. (See the photos). They were still there when I left at 7, having been there over an hour. Whether they actually made an attack after I left, I don't know. In the "Bonnie" photo, she is looking toward the heron nests.

Back to the herons for the next three photos. In spite of the eagles close by, the herons carry on with the business of gathering food and returning with it for the chicks. As they grow larger and eat more, this becomes a more and more challenging task, I suppose. And, of course, the adults have to eat, also. I surely do respect their efforts considering the eagle menace.

Well, what else......Not a great photo, but the first hairy woodpecker we have seen at Black River. Not far from him, the Bewick's Wren. Out in the meadow, the tree swallows have grown and are even hungrier. The one you see has opened its mouth as it recognizes an adult returning to the nest box with food (bugs).

Headed back to heron land, we passed the patch of tiny white flowers. Another mystery. Speaking of which, Bernie and Ellen both let me know that last night's mystery plant was lupine. There are about three pages of it in my "Wild Flowers of Washington" book, so I blew it. I should have known.

I'm happy to say we are closing with a beaver. Bernie noticed overhanging bushes across the pond bouncing around. Soon after, this beaver came out of the shadows and toted this branch back to the lodge. We are wondering if there will be beaver babies this year.

Starting with the herons, I looked first at the nest we have been tracking over the last three weeks that had three chicks. Yes, had. Today it seems like there is only one left. Perhaps the other two are eagle victims. Probably, but not necessarily. A few years ago we witnessed two chicks literally kill a third in the nest. I believe Susan Anderegg once saw one get thrown overboard. Nevertheless, at Black River the eagles have to be at the top of the list of suspects.

The first photo shows the nest and the remaining chick. The next photo is of a keyhole that Bob found that may allow us to see another few nests. You see two chicks in one of them. Overall, I would say that the quantity and volume of chick clucking has increased from last week. There was a seemingly normal amount of adult flying to and from the colony. Again I say, there will definitely be fledglings this year. How many? That's the question!

There was an eagle "event" today. One was in the eagle-nest tree when I got there. A while later we heard a commotion in the colony and that eagle flew to the colony trees (see the perched eagle photo). Later, an eagle emerged from the colony empty handed and headed away from Black River with the other eagle following behind (see the second eagle photo). Whether damage was done or not, who knows. The herons carried on unperturbed.

Over at the Waterworks Garden there was the fuchsia in the grotto. Bernie held it while I took the picture. She and I then went to the upper level ponds and found only the red-tailed hawk being harrassed by a crow. Bob stayed in the grotto and got a nice photo of a hummingbird that came to the fuchsia that we left behind. Rats! A hawk and a crow weren't worth it!

Forget the baby swallows. Who cares! There was another beaver sighting on the Black River pond. In the first photo he is traveling in front of the heron colony. Ten minutes later he was headed back towing a branch he had fetched, presumably to be eaten back at the lodge.

First to catch my attention today were the two herons at the pond.....one doing what herons do when it is hot, and the other doing what they do when they are hungry. Notice the "bonus" turtle I threw in. You should be impressed. There aren't that many turtles at Black River.

Bob and Bernie were also there, though Bob is suffering with a summer cold and probably shouldn't have been. We didn't think there was as much heron flying activity as we expected. However, there is an almost constant din of chicks clucking. Speaking of which, the next three are of the only visible nest with chicks, 600 feet away. Notice the little wings in the second of the sequence. I am pretty convinced I saw three chicks in this nest, though all three don't appear together in the photos. I believe these may be around three weeks old. They are still of a size to be very vulnerable to the eagles. So far each week, there has never been a time when an adult heron was not present in that nest.

While those photos were taken, there was a preening eagle also in that general area. It stayed quite awhile and we knew what to expect. However, during the four hours I was there, there was no disturbance in the colony. Bob thought he might have seen the eagle in the air leaving the colony and, in fact, it was not there when I left. Maybe this was the herons lucky day.

On the pond were many mallards and gadwalls, with the cottonwood fluff continuing to drop. It has been awhile so I thought I would put in a view of what we call the "main viewing area", directly across the pond from the colony. You can see my spotting scope set up. The eagle, gadwalls, and dragonfly were taken from there today. The heron nest photos were taken from a point about 200 feet around the bend in the trail to the right.

PS: After recovering the body of the female Cooper's hawk from the nest, the best guess is that it was attacked by a Great Horned Owl. Good Grief!

It was not a happy visit at Black River this afternoon. When Bernie and I look cursorily at the Cooper's hawk nest, we saw tail feathers in the nest and decided all was as it should be. When Susan came later, she expressed concern that it was in exactly the same position as yesterday afternoon. A look through the scope showed feathers in disarray. We finally realized the adult in the nest was dead. We notified Jack Bettesworth and he will be working the Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife and/or the City of Renton Parks Dept to discuss retrieving the body. Jack feels it may be very important to determine what happened. This is a real letdown. We looked forward to watching a new set of hawklets develop.

Another bummer..... the bushtit nest has been raided, possibly by jays, and is now kaput. And finally, the eagles struck the herons again. We assume this goes on once or twice a day, everyday. If the chicks can reach a certain size, it is possible the eagles will leave them alone. Maybe it's wishful thinking. I don't know.

Bernie went down the trail to where there is a narrow view into a nest. There she found are at least two chicks, maybe three. I came later and got the photos showing a chick's head at the top of the nest. I hope you can make them out. After awhile the other adult came with food and they traded off. This nest is a good 500 feet off, and with thermal distortion, it's a tough shot. But it's the best we have. The nest with the sitter may offer some possibilities when they hatch, if the leaves don't get too much worse.

We went through the meadow looking for the western tanagers and didn't see much of anything. Only the tree swallow in its box. Over in the Waterworks Garden, Old Faithful, the hummer was there, but not much else. So, we headed back to the heron viewing area.

Over there, I took the "mystery" flowers by the pond and the pond scene with cottonwood fluff. The cotton is really flying around here now. In some of the photos you may notice little white blobs. It is not my camera deteriorating. It is out of focus cottonwood fluff.

About this time I noticed a dark blob in the trees across the pond near the heron colony. It was the infamous Bonnie the Eagle. Not long after, I noticed the other infamous blob.....Clyde. We knew what was coming sooner or later. By another ten minutes, Clyde was in the colony causing a commotion. After awhile he came out carrying a heron chick, turned over the pond and went back into the forest at low level. Bonnie quickly left her position and followed him in. This was unusual because they previously have gone to the tree with the eagle nest,

During the attack there was a fierce, but localized outcry from the herons. A few took to the air. In the beginning Clyde came back out of the colony in seeming pursuit of an adult heron. They disappeared around the backside of the forest. I don't know what that was about. Regardless, he went back into the colony and contunued the attack. I told you the result.

In spite of this, things seem fairly normal. Herons going and coming with food. There is an almost continuous clucking of heron chicks in nest. True or not, it seems the herons take all this in their stride and keep on "trucking". I am sure we will have fledglings again this year. Maybe not as many, but they will appear in the latter part of next month, I expect.

I have a happier bird story to tell to end this with. Remember the feeding-baby-junco pictures I sent recently? When I let Ronan out the back door to take him for a walk this morning, a bird whizzed by me into the house. It turned out to be one of the junco fledglings. I opened doors and began closing shades and chasing him around. At one point I believed I saw him go out the front door. However, when we returned from the walk, I discovered him at the back window of the dining room. We chased some more and he then went up to the loft at the second level. He went to the back window which, it turns out, is only about five feet from the cedar tree he is very familiar with. I couldn't budge him from there. So, I went and got a sheet, draped it over him and carried the bundle to the backyard and released him. He immediately darted for the cedar tree in good form. Later I saw him being fed again. Good for him (or her!.

At Black River, right away the wading heron was seen in the (former?) staging area, towards the dam. At the colony, there was some flying activity, not a lot. Still some sticks being brought. And food being brought. There is now a good reason for bringing food. We heard heron chicks clucking in the colony for the first time this year. That's the good, and surprising, news. The bad news is we also saw an eagle come from the colony carrying a chick that appeared to be 1-2 weeks old. I have a lousy photo of it which is NOT available on request. I have a better photo of Bonnie with it after she returned to the eagle tree. That one is also not available on request. The photo of Bonnie was taken some time later. I have to say that, although the eagle is bad, at 500 feet, it's not a bad picture of an eagle. From what Ming emailed us this morning, and what we heard from Susan Anderegg this evening, the eagles are both around and are causing lots of trouble. Now I'm once again nervous about how this plays out. I know I shouldn't moralize about how eagles get their food, but these two are getting on my nerves again.

On the lighter side, along the main trail at Black River were the buttercups, the bushtit near it's nest, and the black-headed grosbeaks. On the pond around 6:00 was the lone pied-billed grebe who caught something I don't know from the bottom of the pond. If anybody knows what it is, let me know. Two years ago I got a grebe with a crawdad in this same area, but that's not what this is.

Out in the meadow, the small western tanager flock was still working the same area for food - insects, I suppose. I was only able to get one female. Also in the meadow, the Cooper's hawk is still on eggs. The male was seen briefly by Bob and Bernie. No hawk pictures today.

Over in the Waterworks Garden, Old Faithful, the Anna's male, was there. In the upper section, there was the goldfinch. Bob got it while a robin was close by. Some people have all the luck. To compensate for that loss, I am throwing in the "Plant that devoured Cleveland". It didn't actually devour Cleveland, but it could if it wanted to.

It was winter today at Black River. I almost wore my thermal underwear but machoism intervened. I regretted it. It rained the whole time, was high forties, and was miserable. However, we saw some interesting things before we were driven away by increasing rain.

The sparrow photo is a test at ISO 1600 with the Panasonic camera. A few days ago I swore I would never again use ISO higher than 400 with either camera. I have now relented. This one would not come across very well in an 8x10 print, but at a reduced scale, it could serve a useful purpose, I think.

Now on to Black River. There were few ducks besides these mallards. It was their kind of weather. For a time, there was an eagle above the eagle nest, sitting in the rain. However, no eagle was seen laying in the nest. This year there will be no eaglets, but the adults seem to continue hanging around.

The western tanagers were seen again this afternoon, a group of at least six. While unsuccessfully chasing them, I saw the bushtit nest, which may be complete. I'm not sure. I got only a few chances at them in the vicinity of the nest. It was a nightmare trying to keep lenses and camera controls reasonably dry, while getting wet myself and waiting for the bushtits to make infrequent appearances.

This afternoon, Suzanne and I showed visitors around Black River. They were Wayne LeBlanc, his wife Cynthia, and daughter Kelly. Wayne and Cynthia are natives of Minnesota, near St. Paul, and Kelly is an architect living in Seattle. Wayne and Cynthia live by a large lake with an island that has hosted a great blue heron colony with up to 1000 nests. Some years ago, a speed-boat racing activity entered the scene, destroying much of the habitat and apparently driving the heron colony into a precipitous decline. Over a couple of years the active nests dove from around 1000 to 45. Wayne was instrumental in marshalling public opinion and successfully petitioning local political entities to end this activity. The heron colony is now on the way to recovery. (Wayne.....I hope I haven't warped this info too much). We enjoyed meeting with the LeBlancs and exchanging experiences relating to the life and times of these two colonies.

When I arrived today, I found five herons in what has been referred to as the winter loafing area. At one point there were as many as seven. We saw them coming and going now and then, so possibly they are using this area for "quiet time". The colony seems quite normal. It is mostly hidden from view, so difficult to judge the actual size. Presumably it is still in the ballpark of 50 active nests.

At no time was there an eagle in the eagle tree today while we were there. It is very clear they are not nesting there this year. While we were in the Waterworks Garden, we saw an eagle in the sky being harrassed by a red-tailed hawk. Also in the Waterworks Garden were the Anna's hummer and the ducklings. At first I thought these were mallards but now I suspect they are gadwalls, judging from the mother.....but I'm not sure. It's not a great view of the mother for ID. (At least for a "hack" birder).

The first thing I did today was check on the Cooper's Hawk nest. It definitely appears there is incubation going on. I never saw the mate, though I was around for four hours and checked that area several times. I met a guy in the meadow who says he comes every day and is convinced incubation began on May 3rd. He may be right.

Next - down to the main viewing area. There was an eagle in the nest, feeding. That lasted another ten minutes, then it jumped up to the perch. In a few minutes it left. During the time I was there, there was no disturbance of the heron colony by anything. I think we now have a strong consensus that the eagles are not using that nest though they are often seen in the vicinity. We hope this will lessen the tax they levy on the colony.

The leaves are full out. If you didn't see an occasional heron in the air, you wouldn't know there was a heron colony there. I did see five herons, including one 1st-year bird, down along the shore hunting, west of the colony. There was also some stick fetching, but not too much. The one in the photo was having trouble. He poked around a little, gave up and left. Flying activity, either with sticks or going for food, seemed quite diminished today. It was hardly worth turning on the camera to be ready if one came over.

Ah, but good luck struck in the meadow. I happened on a small group (4?) of western tanagers, the first I have ever seen at Black River. With the high grass, very uneven ground, and a dog in tow, I gave up on the scope. They were on a feeding binge and jumping all around. Consequently, these are taken with the Panasonic camera and I think it did a pretty good job.

Next we headed for the Waterworks garden. Along the way I encountered three clutches of mallard ducklings, either in Springbrook Creek or a Wateworks pond. And needless to say, the Waterworks "king of the wetlands" Anna's hummer was there.

Ronan and I went back to the main viewing area, hoping something would happen. Ronan laid down on the cold, wet ground. Then the bunny hopped into view to eat some of the grass bordering the trail. Ronan definitely saw him, but it had been a long day. He just watched and showed no interest in chasing whatsoever. That's how I knew it was probably time to take him on home.

Life is pretty normal for the herons these days. Sitting on eggs, gathering sticks, going for food, an occasional eagle attack. Speaking of the eagles, it now seems clear that something has gone wrong for them and they will not use the nest this year. It seems rather late for them to try again. This should be good news for the herons. As of now, it is not clear whether the Cooper's hawks will use their nest again. We understand it would be very unusual for them to do it three years in succession.

So, today at Black River, the herons are occupying nests, but they are getting harder and harder to see as the leaves come out. I know the eagles attacked again yesterday and I wouldn't bet a dime that they didn't again after I left today, but it didn't happen during the four hours I was there. The herons are continuing to gather sticks for their nests. There is a lot of activity of this sort almost continuously.

The eagles were around often, sometimes flying by the colony without disturbing the herons. At the end of the day one eagle was in the tree and one in the nest, as if on eggs. However, as I and others have observed in recent weeks, they are often not in the nest for extended periods. I still think that is significant and that they have had some trouble with eggs. And as we osprey watchers know, just being in a nest sitting doesn't guarantee there are eggs. Now watch! In two weeks I will send pictures of an eaglet and I will claim that it was dropped there by helicopter. Or possibly a pelican. By the way, the first eaglet photo last year was on on May 7th.

Susan Anderegg and I believe we saw a Cooper's hawk fly over in the late afternoon toward the meadow. She had seen the banded female on the meadow raptor perch yesterday. We have been thinking they may not use that nest this year. However, through my scope, I noticed some fir tree greenery in it so, as Bernie has been saying, they have added to it. I checked my files and the first photo of a hawk on the nest last year was also on May 7th, so maybe it's still early. It seems the Cooper's hawks lag the herons and eagles by quite a bit.

What else?.....Well, the goose didn't lay a golden egg again this year, but it did lay two eggs. See for yourself. Goose eggs! Double Zero! And a mallard manservant. Or maybe there are going to be Mallaroose's swimming around on the pond before long.

Black River was much the same for activity this week as last week. Apparently (from witnesses) the eagle raids continue, but the herons continue their business, as well. One change from last week is that there seem to be more sitting on eggs now. The first photo shows three nests with sitters, through the scope. A small wiggle of the scope showed a couple of others very close by. The second photo is of a nest at the other end of the colony where this bird was standing last week. (I sent the photo of that). Besides more sitting, there is still a lot of nest construction and reconstruction going on. You see closeups of a heron near the beaver lodge finding just the right stick and then taking off to carry it to his nest. Four examples of that follow.

Bernie took a stab at counting the number of nests that either had a heron inside or one close enough to associate with a nest. She got 52 both times. With her good eyes and experience, I think that is a pretty good number, and well in the range as was seen in the last two weeks. So, as the eagle attacks continue, the colony doesn't seem to be diminishing yet. The leaves are now showing. Next week and beyond it will become difficult to see what is going on in there. As time progresses we will have to rely on flying activity and then the number of fledglings appearing to estimate the productivity of the colony this year.

The leaves are coming out and the flowers as well. The next two photos show Oregon Grape and Red-flowering Currant in the main viewing area (for seeing the herons). We tried in vain to get hummingbird photos of both Anna's and rufous working this currant. It has been common to see them there for a couple of weeks now. However, over in the Waterworks Garden, the resident hummer was in the usual place and offered some consolation.

On the way to the Waterworks Garden, we saw the great blue heron just across Springbrook Creek, perhaps 50 feet away. He was just standing, passing the time, and showed no nervousness from the four people and Ronan being so close. The first photo is with the Panasonic camera. The second is through Bob's scope which he set up while we were getting wide-angle shots. So, thanks to Bob for that one.

The eagles are a puzzlement. We saw an eagle in the nest, as if on eggs, but there were long periods when there was no eagle there. There was a lot of eagle flying activity, but no aggressiveness toward the colony and no flushing of herons from the colony, even with an eagle relatively nearby. It may be that with many herons on eggs now, they won't flush unless an eagle encroaches into the colony. With the eagles absent from their nest for periods of an hour or more both last week and this week, we are wondering if they are having a problem this year.

Again today at Black River, there was lots of heron action involving stick procurement for nest construction and improvement. These guys have been much busier than the beavers, whom we didn't see today, although I didn't stay as late this time.

First, here is the eagle situation. I am now aware of at least two attacks on heron eggs by the eagles. No surprise there. I expect they will take their toll and the colony will shrink as time goes by as some herons give up trying and move on. In an email this morning, Susan Anderegg said that yesterday she counted 51 herons either in or near a nest. Since some of these were presumably paired with another at the time, it is consistent with previous guesses that we are starting out with around 40 active nests, maybe more.

Considering the observations of various people it is unclear to me whether the eagles have an egg or not. I took a picture of a white head in the nest today, as if one was on eggs. But later today, as for last Friday, there seemed to be a long period of an hour or so during which there was no eagle in the nest. I have to admit I don't really know how long an eagle can be absent without compromising the viability of an egg. Time will tell. In the meantime, as expected, they are raising a ruckus with the herons.

The herons, feisty devils, seem to discount the eagle situation and are hell-bent on building up nests. As in the first photo, many herons were standing in nests today. This may be because they haven't laid yet, or perhaps an eagle attack destroyed eggs.

The next two photos show herons headed out to find sticks. It seems to me the searching is primarily occurring at Black River and especially in a broad spread of trees bounding the north side of the pond, but also deeper into the forest where the colony is. Sticks are also being found at the shoreline of the pond as you see in several of the photos. I consistently see herons being picky about what they choose. They may pick up several and discard them before accepting one. Those near the shore also seem inclined to dip sticks in the water as if to clean them off.

I spent about four hours at Black River this afternoon and regretted needing to go. It was a pretty active place today. The herons were extremely active with nest building. There was almost constant air activity going after sticks. The first two photos give a good look at a guy who has found a nice one and is just taking off to return with it. The next five show herons returning with their loads, big and small. Following are two looks into a little commotion in a small cluster of nests.

The eagles were flushed from their nest only once today and not so briefly. The villain? You guessed it. The lone eagle is near the heron colony, but getting no response from them. I soon saw that what was on his mind was the aggressive red-tailed hawk who was coming awfully close. In the second photo you can see that the eagle has rolled over to be face to face with the hawk. Shortly after this, the hawk is seen buzzing the eagle from behind. As this unfolded, they circled each other higher and higher and drifted out of sight. I'm sure there was no combat. The hawk probably finally got the message.

Herons and eagles....old news! But big news today! The first sighting of a beaver in quite awhile. In fact, two of them. The first came from the lodge right after 6:00 and passed by the heron colony. He was followed by the second in about ten minutes. The second one climbed out onto a log for some reason, stayed a minute, and climbed back into the pond. It's good to see those guys are still around.

Some of us met at Black River this afternoon to watch and discuss herons and the colony. As usual, some very interesting insights from Chris Anderson of the Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, who monitors the great blue heron population in King County (Puget Sound?). Herons and over ten other species I believe. There is no time to cover very much. One interesting hypothesis in the heron world is that a nearby nesting pair of eagles could be advantageous to a colony. Since eagles are very territorial, they may drive off other predators on the colony. They will make their own take from the colony but may prevent the damage from being even greater. For this to work, the colony needs to be above some critical mass, I would think. Whether that is true for Black River, I don't think we know yet. The size of the colony is roughly 1/3 of its pre-eagle size. We again estimated, roughly, that there are currently 40 active nests. Perhaps the colony can stabilize at this size and even grow. In the meantime it has been found that there is a detachment of 5-10 nests a couple of miles south which is presumably a spin-off from Black River.

It is going to be tough getting photos of nest activity this year. The herons are occupying nests away from the pond and away from the eagles. When the leaves come out, you may not know a colony is there. Today I focused on only nest in which a heron pair were much involved with moving sticks around. I observed each of them to be moving sticks. In one photo, you can see that both have latched onto the same stick.

What else was around? A female Anna's hummingbird perched in the main viewing area. Some cut-up geese. Four female scaups, plus a scattering of males elsewhere. And three male wood ducks. I think wood ducks are moving inland for breeding now. I saw the first ones in a while at the Snoqualmie Valley Trail last week.

Yes, the herons are definitely back. Not as many as in the peak years but still a substantial colony. Bernie counted about 40 nests that either had at least one heron in it or one close by. We also estimated that we saw in the range of 60-70 herons total. Given that all are not constantly present in the colony at any moment, it all seems to add up to around 40 nesting pairs at this point. Maybe more will still come.

When I got there, there was a small number of herons in the area west of the nests, in trees or at the pond. Most were in the nests, standing around, doing a little courting, or working on nests. The heron with a stick in the first such photo had taken it from an unoccupied nest and proceeded to carry it to its own nest. There was not a lot of stick gathering going on today. There was a lot of flying, but mostly because they were spooked by something. Many of the flying photos included were taken during such times.

Soon after I arrived an eagle flushed the herons by circling over their nests. There was no real threat. The eagles won't become a real problem for another couple of weeks when eggs are in nests. Today, the eagles mostly kept to themselves.

There was a bizarre incident late afternoon. A crazy guy with a backpack and a stout pole thrashed his way around the far side of the pond and came out at the Protected Forest shoreline near the heron nests. It is possible he is responsible for them flushing once or twice. Anyone who has tried to get over there knows it is extremely tough going. We were shocked to see this guy over there. Once is ok, but if any of you become aware of this going from now on, please let us know. If we knew it was a habit, we will have to think about what can be done to short-circuit the practice.

Forget the pictures for the moment. It was Black River Wednesday, but not as usual. When we (Bob, Bernie, Ronan, and I) got there, there were no herons. Later, Suzanne joined us. The big topic of discussion was how sad it was that the herons had not come back this year, and thinking it might be for the best - because of the eagles - and wishing them well wherever they went. To make a long story short, Ronan and I left around 5:30. Just as I got home, Suzanne called to say that around 45 herons had arrived and gone to the nests. After further emails tonight, I gather there may have been as many as 55. That number will probably grow over the next week. I'm flabbergasted, and hornswaggled. It's a good thing I only bet on the stock market and not the ponies, or I'd really be broke! This is the latest they have ever been before and we don't know where they have been since apparently leaving Lake Washington.

While finishing up on the hawk the eagle pair appeared in the sky over the heron colony (long before the herons appeared). A sight hopefully not to be repeated too often. The eagle closeup is actually in the eagle tree, about 600 feet away.

On down Springbrook Creek, there were the buffleheads, the coot, and the female goldeneye. Probably more things farther on, but we turned back to the Waterworks Garden where we encountered the "star" of today's show: the world-famous Waterworks hummingbird, the tamest hummingbird this side of the Mississippi. A male Anna's. We have been seeing him (or his relations) for at least four years now in the same area of the gardens.

Bob, Bernie, and I spent the afternoon searching for herons that should have been at Black River. There was one there, in about the same spot as last week......nowhere near the nests. I searched my photos of the last four years. The dates on which I took the first photos each year of herons in the nests are:

Tomorrow is March 12, 2009 so you might say not too panic. The difference is that in 2007 and before the herons were present in large numbers at Black River for weeks before they went to the nests. Last year they were at Lake Washington in large numbers immediately before going to the nests. They were at Lake Washington again this year but were not seen there either Monday or today of this week. They were not at Black River nor anywhere else we looked. The photos from Black River include the Lone Heron, raising the question of what he is doing there. Also there were the Bad News Eagles, and the ducks.

There is an interesting twist to this. Our friend Peter at Black River was told recently by a Renton Parks employee that herons were nesting about two miles south of Black River, near Springbrook Creek. He didn't want to give the exact location because it was private property. (So what!). That would be BIG news. Splitting up in our two cars, Bob, Bernie, and I scoured that whole area and couldn't find any nests or herons. I went along Springbrook Creek, the Green River, and over to Ft. Dent Park. Except for the lone heron at Black River, none were seen anywhere. It may be they are in an area that is blocked from view from a street. I don't know. I just know where they should be. Frankly, I feel sure they have given up on Black River for this year. The overflight that was made over us last week may have been them saying goodbye. I will save my eulogy for next week and hope I am wrong, but it don't look good! This could be a very sad occasion for some of us.

Next we went over to the Coulon Park island. No herons were seen from that vantage point either. This is where the swans were on Monday but they also were gone. So I took the two gull pictures, the horned grebe, and the scaups out on the lake. The Gadwall Gang had come out of the water and were marching single file across the sand toward a grassy area. These four stopped to glare.

As I was reaching for my camera bag to go to Black River, a small hawk zipped into my backyard and landed on the hummingbird feeder pole. As expected, there were no other birds to be seen anywhere, including the normally bodacious hummingbirds. He stayed on the pole maybe five minutes and then went to the side fence, stayed a minute and left. I'll have to go look for feathers tomorrow. Bob tells me this is a Cooper's hawk and I suspect he is right. I spent some time looking at the Cornell Ornithology Dept. Feeder Watch website that discusses differences between sharp-shinned hawks and Cooper's hawks and I left it a little perplexed. However, they admit that many advanced birders (which I am not) are fooled. So, Mike W., what do you think....? By the way, I measured the difference between the peaks of the hooks to be 7". I am estimating the length of this bird to be 14", more than Sibley cites for a sharp-shinned and less than for a Cooper's. Yes, yes, I know that sharp-shinned females are about the same size as a Cooper's male.

On to Black River. First the herons. Besides the downy woodpecker Bob found (next to last photo), he also spotted the lone adult great blue heron in what we have formerly called the wintering area. Now, the old habit is disrupted and we have only this one around today. Presumably the others are at the apparent new wintering area at Coulon Park.

The "lookout" heron was seen around 4:00. Just a few minutes before 5:00, Bernie spotted a number of herons flying in that proceeded to buzz around above the nests. She counted eight altogether. They circled a number of times but none landed that I saw. Bernie said she thought they went to land in the wintering area but were disrupted by a flock of crows that came along. After perhaps ten minutes alltogether, they all headed generally westward, not to be seen again today. I expect this may be repeated daily untill they settle into the nests, which could be any day now.

And speaking of nests, the eagles seem committed to theirs at Black River, curse the luck. There was one eagle in the nest tree when we arrived. That one eventually headed west and was lost track of. About an hour and a half later, Bernie noticed a head in the eagle nest. Soon, it stood up, as if eating, then flew to the upper perch, then went farther over in the tree.

And again speaking of nests, I took the fourth graders a print of the two conversing Tualco Rd eagles this morning. I wanted to tell them a little more about eagles so I talked about nests. I checked up on the web this morning before I left and found that the North American record is a nest 10-feet wide, 20 feet deep, and weighing 2 tons (4000) pounds. The size of an SUV! I estimate that the Black River nest us 5-6 feet wide and 4-5 feet deep, depending on where you measure from. I estimate the weight to be - not enough to break the limbs that are supporting it.

Finally, a note on beavers. You can see that either "nature" or more beaver activity has brought down the tree that was almost cut through last week. Bernie also found another tree of comparable size near the heron colony that is partially cut through. It will probably be down next week.

Defying cold and rain, Ronan and I made the usual Wednesday visit to Black River again today. Susan Anderegg reported having seen 14 herons herons there on Saturday and I wanted to see if anything was going on today. N-O. Nothing. At least in the heron department. The eagles were another matter.

First, the herons. There were none seen at Black River. Later, on the way home, I went to to Coulon Park and looked for the herons across the cove. There was a cluster of around twenty visible from the small peninsula at the park. It is possible there were more on the other side of the point, but I doubt it. I think they were all on that side to stay out of the wind and rain. If so, that raises the question as to why not more. Last year at this time we were seeing closer to 80 in this location. Well, who knows. Time will tell. Perhaps I am wrong and there were more on the other side. By the way, Black River is on the other side of the the hill seen in the background in the photo. It is about two miles away.

Now, back to Black River. It rained a good part of the time so we take the bad with the good (re: photos!). And speaking of the bad, our friend Bonnie came to the nest carrying something I thought was food. Soon after, I saw her moving sticks around, so I now think it was something for the nest. After a few minutes, she jumped to the perch above the nest.

You must recognize that the herons are the real owners of Black River. The eagles only sublet one of the trees from the herons. This occurred through a screw-up by the heron property oversight commission a few years ago. Because of the inflexibility of government rules controlling wildlife leasing contracts, the eagles have been able to stay indefinitely. Otherwise, they would have been evicted long before now.

To make matters worse, Bonnie left her perch and went directly to one of the old heron nests in the current colony. She did not look around, but went directly to that nest. I am all but certain this was not an active heron nest last year. She took what seemed to be soft material out of the nest and returned to her nest with it. It was not a stick. Now this is like a bad tenent breaking into the property manager's kitchen and stealing a cup of sugar. Outrageous. However, it should be pointed out that a few years ago we saw a heron go to the eagle nest when it was vacant and remove a stick. Perhaps this is behavior learned from watching human machinations, so please be on your best behavior when visiting Black River.

The usual waterfowl crowd was around the Black River pond but I settled for only a few......the bufflehead, the geese, and the teal. This poor teal was abandoned by about ten of his friends. When I stopped and set the tripod down, they began their "peeping" and all scattered. This guy was left all by himself. His eye is open but I'm not sure that means he is awake. Anyway, good for him. As dark as it was, he needed to be still for this to work.

Now for the last photo. It has been a long time since I saw a beaver at Black River or even saw signs of activity. It now appears that last Saturday when the herons were at Black River, the beavers secured a permit to down one of the trees on one of the islands in the pond. It's good to see them still around.