From the Quad Community Press, by Sonja Hegman
What once looked like a bird airport — with birds taking off and landing almost constantly — now looks like land that’s almost uninhabited.
The blue heron rookery on Lake Peltier island between Lino Lakes and Centerville is dwindling more every year.
Looking out from Ron Marier’s farm April 26, only one blue heron was seen flying in an area where 800 nests used to fill the trees. This year, there are only about 60.
Art Hawkins, a Lino Lakes resident, has been watching the decline of blue heron on the lake since 1999.
When he started watching the birds, Hawkins said the herons were streaming in to pick up sticks from Marier’s property for their nests.
“The most important place was Ron’s,” Hawkins said.
Marier has lived on Lake Peltier his entire life. The land has been in his family since 1856.
“We used to have to shut the windows at night because they were so loud,” he said.
The herons usually arrive on the island around St. Patrick’s Day, but have been leaving earlier, around mid-June.
“They come in the spring, set up house, lay eggs and leave,” said Hawkins’ daughter, Amy Donlin, an interpretive naturalist at Wargo Nature Center in Lino Lakes.
Up until 15 years ago, Marier said the land around Lake Peltier was undeveloped.
The island used to be filled a third by egrets and the rest was blue herons, Hawkins said. The egrets stopped coming to the island in 2003.
Steve Kittelson, a nongame wildlife specialist with the DNR, said Andy VonDuyke, a University of Minnesota conservation biology student, set up cameras in trees to document the heron activity. In 2004, it was discovered that raccoons were preying on young herons. The raccoons were climbing trees to get to the nests.
“Each year we become a little more proactive,” Kittelson said.
Signs are posted around the island to prevent the disturbance of the birds. Kittelson said radio collars were placed on the raccoons to track them and water quality issues are being examined.
Several issues could have contributed to the birds abandonment of the island. In addition to raccoons, Hawkins said a few years ago there was construction disturbance when I-35W was being rebuilt.
“That year (2000) everything was progressing well,” he said. “We were keeping track of the birds’ activity and then all the activity almost quit.”
A crew of people was sent in to see what happened and Hawkins said all the birds had left. That was in mid-June 2000.
“The construction crew was working at night so we thought that was the whole reason for the desertion,” Hawkins said. “The birds don’t normally desert as a whole colony. They usually move in a day or two.”
In 2001, Hawkins and people from the Department of Natural Resources were afraid the blue herons would not return. They did, but again, they left suddenly.
“The DNR was concerned,” Hawkins said. “It was hard to put a finger on who was to blame for the whole thing. It might be sickness or human disturbance. The most obvious would be human disturbance.”
A no wake zone was put in place on the lake as a way to help the island area.
“They want this site bad,” Donlin said of the blue herons. “They just can’t seem to have it.”
