September 7, 2005
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Today, I had to stop thinking about the things I was thinking about. So I loaded up the camera and went to Black River Riparian Forest, a project of the city of Renton, WA. There's a sort of 'friends of Black River' group called Herons Forever. And there's also the Rainier Audobon Society Chapter.
Here it is on google maps. And here on wikipedia.
It's a huge heronry for Great Blue Herons. There are at least a hundred nests, now abandoned while the birds migrate. I was hoping to see a few very confused stragglers, but I missed out. And anyway, the point was to get away from thinking for a while.
The trail through the forest goes under a bridge and when you come back up, you're at the entrance to an artificial wetland which is an adjunct to the sewage treatment plant. It's a nice artificial wetland, too. Many species of plants, lots of bugs, a few birds. It's a series of ponds capped with healthy green algae. Yum.
The pictures are over at my flickr account, though they don't really convey the place.
Comments (2)
There's a great blue heron that hangs around in my area. Seems out-of-place out here amongst the yucca and tumbleweeds, but I think it's attracted to an equally out-of-place man-made elevated pond in someone's yard a couple of miles from here.
If you like bird-refuge-kinda places (and who deosn't) and if you ever find yourself in northern Alabama (and who doesn't), be sure to go to Oak Mountain State Park and hike the bird trail. It's a boardwalk that goes through the woods a little ways up the mountain, with caged exhibits of eagles, owls, hawks, etc along the way. They were all birds that were injured and rescued, so they're arguably better off in the exhibits - no matter what your stance on that is, it's still an interesting hike and a beautiful park.
Down in southern New Mexico, south of Soccoro, there's a huge reserve called Bosque Del Apache. It's a major migratory stopover. You might be seeing the herons that left here.
I've been through northern Alabama a few times, but never with the intention of stopping for any length of time... I was always on the Natchez Trace Parkway.
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