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| The great blue heron nest. |
Once a month, on the third Monday,
Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve presents an after school nature program for kids in grades 1-3. It's free, although preregistration is always required and the spaces tend to fill up very quickly. The library calendar doesn't usually describe the class in much detail, or even explain that Jackson Bottom educators are presenting. We decided to finally check one out, and picked their great blue heron class. Apparently these classes have a loyal following, as their Education Specialist, Sarah Pinnock, mentioned that she recognized almost everyone. She talked in some detail about great blue herons, showed the kids an eggshell, a skull, and some enormous feathers, and explained about some of their particular adaptations. Then she gave each child a pair of binoculars and showed the kids how to use them. Jasper was really delighted to be heading outside.
The grounds around the Hillsboro Main Library are a prime example of how some really spectacular nature can be found in some unlikely spots. Directly behind the library are a pair of lakes that appear to be artificial, surrounded by manicured grass and a few trees. Among these was the object of our expedition, a great blue heron nest! I was ignorant of the fact that great blue herons ever nested singly, as opposed to in their spectacular rookeries which often feature hundreds of nests, or that they would choose such a suburban setting. This one has been used for a couple of years now. The wonderful thing about this particular nest is that it's in a great place to be observed by library patrons who drop by regularly. Herons take an unusually long time to fledge, so it's likely that there will be many opportunities to watch them parenting their babies. It doesn't hurt that this is one of the three giant libraries in the Washington County system (Beaveron and Tualatin are the other two) and this library has quite a lot to offer.
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| Scaups. |
The lakes are wonderful places to find all sorts of ducks. We saw mallards, Canadian geese, coots, wigeons, northern shovelers, scaups, and some really unusual birds which Ms. Pinnock advised were hybrids of mallards and domestic ducks. As we ambled down the paved trails, we caught sight of two nutria snuffling along the edge of the lake. We were close enough to see their bright orange teeth (fortified with iron for strength). Nutria are invasive rodents from South America that were introduced by the fur trade. They live in rivers and lakes and destroy the vegetation. In this case, much of the vegetation is fast-growing, invasive iris, so the nutria are perhaps well matched.
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| A northern shoveler (left). |
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| A hybrid duck? |
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| One of the nutria. |
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| American wigeons. |
Once a month, on the third Monday, Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve presents an after school nature program for kids in grades 1-3. It's free, although preregistration is always required and the spaces tend to fill up very quickly. The library calendar doesn't usually describe the class in much detail, or even explain that Jackson Bottom educators are presenting. We decided to finally check one out, and picked their great blue heron class. Apparently these classes have a loyal following, as their Education Specialist, Sarah Pinnock, mentioned that she recognized almost everyone. She talked in some detail about great blue herons, showed the kids an eggshell, a skull, and some enormous feathers, and explained about some of their particular adaptations. Then she gave each child a pair of binoculars and showed the kids how to use them. Jasper was really delighted to be heading outside.
The grounds around the Hillsboro Main Library are a prime example of how some really spectacular nature can be found in some unlikely spots. Directly behind the library are a pair of lakes that appear to be artificial, surrounded by manicured grass and a few trees. Among these was the object of our expedition, a great blue heron nest! I was ignorant of the fact that great blue herons ever nested singly, as opposed to in their spectacular rookeries which often feature hundreds of nests, or that they would choose such a suburban setting. This one has been used for a couple of years now. The wonderful thing about this particular nest is that it's in a great place to be observed by library patrons who drop by regularly. Herons take an unusually long time to fledge, so it's likely that there will be many opportunities to watch them parenting their babies. It doesn't hurt that this is one of the three giant libraries in the Washington County system (Beaveron and Tualatin are the other two) and this library has quite a lot to offer. 
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