03/01/2010 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minnesota Department of Nature Rookery Blues Empty nests spur efforts to bring back Peltier Lake's beloved great blue herons. By Gustave Axelson The great blue herons of Peltier Lake have no idea how much they're admired. They adorn the city seal in their hometown of Lino Lakes, just north of the Twin Cities. When they leave their nests on fishing expeditions, they sometimes fly over Blue Heron Elementary School. Pts1(WS "3�� 7e['tiN1�11 n139,V11IN IAKI Iks!`7 \O t_Y1 -11M hit{tltwllYki, 41."trt,1.11. 111E1' AIX71.'ti 17#11 CI 1:1.■ :.IK 111;_11,, i1... ti'; Aii CWItlEIVIM Csnl'.un111411t • LLR.1;.11110N :. NUST .. . Y+-.11 , Herons have been a part of this community since 1945, when they established a breeding place, or rookery, in what is now Rice Creek Chain of Lakes Regional Park Reserve in Anoka County. Generations of local residents have watched the long- legged, gray anglers stalking along quiet shorelines. Art Hawkins enjoyed watching these herons and their compatriots, great egrets, fly back and forth from the rookery during the spring of 1999. From his post in a farmer's field a half -mile away, he set up his spotting scope to monitor hundreds of heron and egret nests on a 30 -acre island at the north end of Peltier Lake. Hawkins, a retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, volunteered to help the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources keep watch over these herons because of concerns over growing disturbances in this area. In March and April, he watched the herons and egrets gather sticks to repair their ramshackle nests atop the island's basswood and maple trees. In May the birds turned their attention to foraging for frogs and fish for their young. By August the chicks fledged, and the raucous rookery quieted down. In March of 2000, Hawkins returned to the farmer's field for a second season of watching herons. Everything seemed to be going fine until one June day when he peered through his spotting scope and saw ... nothing. No silhouettes of six -foot wingspans with gangly legs dragging in the wind. Hawkins heard no calls from chicks hungry for regurgitated fish. The air around the rookery was empty. When the DNR sent in tree climbers to investigate the nests, they found them empty. Cracked eggshells on the ground indicated there had been a hatch. But all that was left was a pile of feathers in some of the nests.