Skagit Land Trust owns a 3.5 acre forested property on the March Point which hosts the largest concentration of Great Blue Heron nests in the Western United States. The March Point Heronry is home to an estimated 500 heron nests.
As year-round residents and top-line predators, herons serve an important role in Puget Sound as an indicator species for the coastal ecosystem and as a symbol of a regional cultural lifestyle. The March Point Heronry has existed for well over 60 years and much of the land hosting the heronry was donated to Skagit Land Trust when the landowners understood its large public benefit.
Because of the sensitivity of this nesting site, direct access by the public is not permitted. Non-intrusive educational access to the heronry was a missing link until 2006 when a volunteer team with Leadership Skagit helped the Trust to install a “Heron Cam” on the property. Many community partners contributed to this project and the camera’s maintenance over the years. The camera is secured 70 feet up in a tree and provides views of several heron nests with real-time images of herons nesting during the birds’ nesting season from March through August. This all-weather cam, powered by a solar battery system, transmits live images of the birds to the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Interpretive Center and on the padillabay.gov website.
For the past six years, the heron cam has been viewed by many visitors to the Interpretive Center and online, increasing awareness of the life cycle of herons and their habitat needs. In addition, citizen scientists have been active in monitoring this site for many years and in this coming years will use camera imagery to learn important information about heron nesting habits and social structures.
Last year, the 2006-era camera became inconsistent and then inoperable during the nesting season. Skagit Land Trust has now received sufficient funds to upgrade the camera system in early 2014. Grants from the D.V. and Ida J. McEachern Charitable Trust, Shell Puget Sound Refinery, and The Mountaineers Foundation will ensure the system’s long-term functioning to continue sharing live video images from the heron colony and deepen understanding of Skagit’s vital heron nesting areas.
The old Heron Web cam is still live, but herons are absent this time of year.
Photo courtesy Skagit Land Trust.