THREE Green Herons - one clearly a Juvenile! July 28

Tuesday, July 28, 2010.
Once again I bicycled to the Delta Ponds along the bike path near Valley River Center.
So far in this blog the only ponds I have been talking about are the one's closest to the Willamette River - where the water enters the ponds from the River. These ponds are the furthest SouthWest of the entire set of ponds. The topmost image here shows the satellite view of the ponds I have been visiting. The 2nd image shows a map-view of the same area. The third image shows a larger region which gives a better perspective of where these ponds are in relation to the formal city park having the name "Delta Ponds City Park." In that third image, there is a red balloon marker showing the "delta ponds city park" and my ponds are to the lower left of that park.

In the top image follow the green bike path up from the very bottom of the picture. The three Green Herons I saw today were where the bike path curves to the right along the South end of the ponds. There is a very narrow long North-South running pond nearest the river and a smaller one just to the right of that. All three birds were on the edges of that smaller one to the right of the long narrow pond.

One of the three Herons was clearly a full adult, having a more full-bodied look and no streaking whatsoever on it's breast. Both of the others had quite a bit of the adult plumage coloration, but one of them had "fuzzy" hairs along the top of his head and some white small spots on his wings. While clearly a young bird it was nowhere near as young looking as the one I saw a few days ago near the North end of the pond system where the channel runs North from Randy Pape Beltline Road and towards it's re-entry into the Willamette River. That young bird a few days ago was narrower-bodied and almost entirely brown and white except for some darker coloration on it's head.

Ee-die'-fah came along just as I arrived today and we watched the Green Herons together for about half an hour. We didn't see the youngest one eat anything but some small bugs that were on the log it was standing on, but one of the others struggled for 3 or 4 minutes with something it caught. Ee-die-fah said it was a small fish, but I thought it was a frog about two inches long. Twice while the bird pecked at it and picked it up and turned it this way and that, I was pretty sure I saw a white belly and two or three legs dangling from it. I don't think those could have been fins. They looked too long and gangly to be anything but legs. That's my opinion and I'm standing by it, although I know quite well that any observer can be mistaken about what they think they are seeing.

The only times I can remember seeing three or more Green Herons at the same time has been in the month of August when the newly fledged birds fly around with the parents. I've seen that several times along the river here in Eugene over the years even when I was not specifically out for the purpose of birding.

Further North today, I passed along the South and West ends of the large East-West running pond that goes from Willamette Oaks near the River to Goodpasture Island Road.. While I was riding along this stretch, I heard the Pied-Billed Grebe calling again. The call was coming from further East this time, further from the River and closer to Goodpasture Island Road. I didn't stop to look for the bird because I knew I wouldn't get much of a view of it at the distance the call placed it at.

I asked Ee-die-fah today when she had first seen or hear the Pied-Billed Grebe. she said almost a month ago now and that there are two of them. She thinks they will be breeding soon. The last time I spoke with her, more than a month ago, she had said the Grebes were not around this Summer. Two days ago, July 25th was the first time I heard a Grebe at the ponds this year. But I only started going birding at the ponds a few days before that so I'm not surprised I only first heard a Grebe this week. Before then I had only ridden by on a number of occasions on my way home or going downtown, and didn't stop much (if at all) at the ponds to look around.

Juvenile Green Heron - July 22

I hung around the delta ponds for several hours yesterday, going back and forth twice from one end to the other. I watched 3 Green Herons there. One of them stalked a lot of prey and came closer and closer to me, walking the small logs in the pond like a logger. He caught 3 fish while I watched with binoculars. One fish was about 3 inches long and about an inch wide at the belly (from back to belly). The Heron extended his neck out and his whole head would go under water for an instant. Most often he came up with something, though not always.

I finally found a fledgling - one of this year's crop. This was where a bike bridge crosses the outlet from the whole delta ponds, just on the North side of Beltline and just a few hundred feet West from where that whole complex of Home Depot Chevron, Walmart and all those other stores are, Greenacres Rd and I-105/Ayers Rd. That stretch of the channel is beautiful. Not having biked or walked that bridge until now, I have not seen it before. It's not visible from the ramp (for cars) going onto Beltline. This channel is about 100 feet wide, highly vegetated, with clear slow moving water streaming through it, surrounded by trees and you can see about 1/8 mile or more of it from the bike bridge before it bends towards where it enters the Willamette. As soon as I saw it I stopped to appreciate it, even though it was about 4:30 and getting pretty hot by that time and I was in the direct sunlight. I scanned around with my binocs and saw the young Green Heron not far from me, standing on a log. Thinner body, a little shorter, legs gray instead of bright orange, and most of the back and neck were brown rather than the chestnut neck and deep green blue back of the adult. Streaked chest too. All the books mention the streaked chest being characteristic of the juvenile and say that lasts a year. The other Green Herons I have been watching must be yearlings then because they still had little bit of streaking on their breasts too, even though the rest of their coloration fully matched that of an adult.

It was fun to really spend some time studying the Herons as they hunted for food. They would turn and nervously watch EVERY single person that passed along the bike trail. I was sitting still on the ground for a long time so I had become invisible to them. They really are quite shy!

Nature Report Delta Ponds - written 7/06/2010

I spoke to Ee-die'-fa yesterday at Delta Ponds. (That's her name honest - though this is a phonetic spelling). There is only one local native turtle species, the Western Pond Turtle. Salem and North there is also a Western Painted Turtle. The invasive Red-Eared Pond Slider turtles which were present in huge numbers have largely been captured and removed. These were pets that had been released and thrived here.

The local turtles have not nested yet this year because it has been too cold. May and June are the usual months for their egg-laying. So far there is only one nest in the area fenced off for them along the bike trail.

I saw a Green Heron and it might even have been one of this years young. Usually I do not see the young ones until August, but the one I saw looked smaller than the typical adult. I had seen an adult Green Heron when I rode on Saturday. These birds are quite shy. Even as far away as I was on the bike path, the small one flew off for a few minutes. Then it returned to a tree near where it had been. Another minute or so it went back down to the waters edge. Eediefa and her 20-something daughter were excited to go look for the Green Heron.

Eediefa said that river otters do come into the ponds now and then. They live more on the river but even there, they are transient and move about from time to time. I saw 3 of them some years ago near the VRC bike bridge, but I have not seen any since.

The pied-billed Grebe that was resident in the ponds last year, and which I saw frequently, is gone. Eediefa thinks the noise of the construction of the nearby bike bridge has been too constant for some critters.

I told them about the Mink I saw a year ago and they said they have seen Mink at the same place last year.

Pied-Billed Grebe at Delta Ponds

Today, July 26, was the first Summer day of 2010 that I have heard or seen any Pied-Billed Grebes at the Delta Ponds. Two weeks ago I was told by a local devoted bird and wildlife observer that the Grebe has not been seen since earlier this Spring. She speculated that incessant rumbling of the heavy equipment being used in constructing the new bike bridge a quarter mile away drove the Grebe away. Last Summer I saw and heard the Pied-Billed Grebe often.

Mid-day today, a hot day in the mid-to-high 80s, I was at the West-running segment of the bike trail which separates the North pond from the large Middle pond. I was looking for the Green Herons again but was having no luck with that. Suddenly I heard my favorite local bird call - the raucous "ouw, ouw OUW OUW OUW OUWT.... HOO... HOO... HOO-ee-ooo. The last part of the call is reminiscent of a loon. The call was coming from across the North pond, not far from the Northwest corner. That's the same place the Grebe used to frequent last Summer. I started scanning the area with my binoculars. This grebe spends more time diving under water than he does sitting on the surface so sometimes they are very hard to spot. I got lucky on my 3rd or 4th pass over the area. His bill was very silvery-white with the characteristic vertical dark stripe. The rest of his coloration was very very dark. I really didn't seen anything but slaty grey on his head and neck and body. However, I didn't see him from all sides, nor even for very long in profile before he dove under water again.

It was only last year that I finally connected the wonderful call of this bird with the bird making it. I always heard this call in larger swamps and Marshes such as at Malheur Wildlife Refuge and locally maybe at Fern Ridge Reservoir. Last Summer I started hearing this wonderful bird call at the Delta ponds. I don't know how many times I heard it and found a Pied-billed Grebe in the area from which the call was coming before I was convinced the Grebe is the source of this lovely wild bird song.

But today, something very special thing happened. Shortly after I located the Grebe, he gave out his exuberant call while I was watching him in my binoculars. As one might expect just from the loudness of this series of notes, the Grebe was pushing out and extending his neck and head with every note, as though he was blowing a bugle. It was really fun to see him in the act of bellowing out his song.

A while later he came up only half-way across and I saw his bill and head and neck more closely. I still didn't really notice any colors other than that very silvery bill with the stripe. A woman stopped to ask what I was watching. She tried to find he Grebe in my binoculars but the bird didn't cooperate. Then as she was about to leave, the Grebe started making it's call and she got to hear it.