The Black River Riparian Forest

There is a place so special, so natural and so wonderful it's hard to believe. It's even harder to believe that this place lies in the midst of freeways, shopping malls, car dealers, sewer treatment plants, manufacturing buildings and developments. It's called the Black River Riparian Forest- and it's amazing. It is home to one of the largest colonies of Great Blue Herons in Washington State. But others use this area too- eagles have thier babies here, Coopers Hawks live here with their young, beavers build dams in the waters, snakes, wood ducks, bats, kingfishers, cedar waxwings and a variety of other creatures call this place home.

Suzanne K. is the President of a non-profit organization she founded 18 years ago to save this spot from development. She has fought goverment, developers, and legislation to protect this unique and special place. Yes, she is an everyday hero- working hard to preserve this last standing grove of cottonwood trees, so these very important sub-species can give us back a healthy eco-system. Recently, she has become a close friend.
http://www.heronsforever.org/ .

I had the privillage of taking a pre-birthday trip down to the forest on the July 13th with Suzanne. We were there for two hours and saw, mating butterflies, fighting bees, baby Cooper Hawks, Osprey callenging Eagles, baby Eaglets, Heron fledglings, snakes, Green Heron, and a wealth of other things. Through Suzanne's special spotting scope you see these birds like this- just as they are here. Special thanks to Mike Hamilton- wildlife photographer and bird watcher for these recent photos.

These guys are babies. Suzanne gave me the pointers on how to tell. First, the wild looking eyes-just pure innocence and wonder. Second, pin feather on the necks and heads. Third, dark heads (the adults heads are white). Fourth- dark coloring on the tops of the beaks.


Learning to fish is tough.. this little guy is getting serious. See how bare his neck feathers are?
The little pin feathers on the head are so cute. They look like they just got out of bed.


These are the baby Coopers Hawks. Mike took these several days before our visit when they were just "cottonballs". There are three babies total in this nest.
This was the view that we had of them. Just figuring out their talons and checking us out. Very cute! Mama was most likely close by. Mike captured her here feeding them. The picture below really makes me laugh- I think he's singing soprano.