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NORTHWESTERN COAST HERON

Other common names: Blue Crane.

When the long, hectic days of the colony-nursery are over; when the hungry young have been fed and raised so they can at last join their parents on salt water tide-flats, then some of the older birds seek a change. Alone, they fly up the rivers from salt water, ascending at times to the very source. In this way they enter the park and settle down at some mountain lake.

Taylor and Shaw records them at Reflection Lake (4900), Lake Allen (4600) and Tahoma Creek (2500). We have more recent records to add - at Mystic Lake (5700), Lake James (4370) and the Golden Lakes (5000). They have been recorded in the months of January, July, August, September and October.

Their food consists of small fish, frogs, insects, grass-hoppers and perhaps a mouse or two when available. What few fish they take is more than made up by their very presence. We come miles to admire our mountainous country - the peaks and lakes, the latter surrounded by the green of the forest and its bushes and flowers with the reflection of the mountains covering the surface. To climax this we must have a heron near the shore-line to complete the picture - a bit of animation as part of the remembrance one takes away with him.

In western Washington the herons choose the highest firs in the densest forest for their colonies - perhaps six or more nest in one tree and none of them under 150 feet - safe from everything but the rifle bullet. Nests are remade each year, and three to five pale-blue eggs the usual clutch. The colonies are always in close proximity to some tide-flat where all food for the young is obtained. In some cases, however, it may be two miles from salt water to the colony, and one can imagine the throats-ful of fish that have to be carried this distance by the parent birds.

Our birds do not migrate in winter.

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WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE

Other common names: Laughing Goose; Speckle-belly.

When the heavy migration of geese passes along our coast-line in autumn, many flocks are composed of white-fronted geese. In the distance they are a medium sized, dark-colored bird like the family Branta. However, if close enough or with powerful glasses, one may distinguish the blackish bars across the breast and belly of the older birds - markings not found on other geese.

A flock that had strayed into the mountainous district at Longmire on November 4, 1934, had to circle several times to regain altitude. From half way up the Ramparts Trail a good view was obtained and binoculars identified them by the black markings on the older birds. The young of the year do not carry this identification.

These birds, like the snow goose and black brant, linger along our shores in winter instead of all going south. Several years ago a visit to Gray's Harbor in February established this fact. A line of geese several hundred yards off shore, waiting for the tide to turn, were identified through the glasses as white-fronted geese, although the "natives" call them all "brant". This line extended some two miles along shore and contained several thousand birds.

White-fronted geese, go to the far north to breed. The nest, lined with down from the parent bird, usually contains five or six eggs of a greenish-white color.

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COMMON MALLARD

Other common names: Wild Duck; Mallard; Green-head (drake).

Museum Specimen - Sunset Park. (6000').

The mallard is one of the largest, and one of the most handsome of the duck family. Many nest in Western Washington. The lakes and "pot holes" in that part of this State, even in the timber, are nesting attractions. As soon as the young are grown, the majority of families seek the salt water sloughs and tide-flats, a change of diet, and more of it.

Even the novice should be able to identify the drake of this species. His green head with a white collar, his chestnut-colored breast and purplish wing markings, should make identification positive. The female, browner and without the green head, may be harder to place at some distance, but always remember the wing pattern is the same as that of the male. Listen for the familiar "quack"; if you hear it, then you can rest assured it is a female mallard. The male does not quack and is generally silent, although in the spring he often hisses when flushed - more a note of alarm to the setting female.

Mating begins early. Many pairs have a full set of eggs in March and young hatched in April. The female usually seeks dry ground near water for a nesting site. Ten or eleven eggs are the average setting, the nest lined with down from the females breast. When away feeding, this feather blanket covers the eggs, keeping them warm and concealing them perfectly.

Like all the "puddle" ducks, mallards are very seldom seen in the park. Single birds and pairs visit the Golden Lakes during the warm Indian Summer days in October but do not stay long. We have no open water for them in the spring, and our mountain lakes do not contain proper food to attract them in summer or fall.

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Descriptions continued...