![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rocky-mountain-power-trucks-8948-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"rocky-mountain-power-trucks-8948-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nYesterday morning as I approached the Eccles Wildlife Education Center at Farmington Bay I noticed some kind of hubbub going on in their parking lot.<\/p>\n
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Scoping it with my lens from about a quarter mile away revealed a bunch of heavy construction equipment that I suspected was from Rocky Mountain Power (it was) so I figured they were preparing to do maintenance work on the nearby Great Blue Heron rookery. It isn’t unusual for the nesting platforms to need repair and it was about the right time of year for it – just prior to nesting season and with the ground frozen so the heavy equipment could get to the rookery.<\/p>\n
There were a lot of heatwaves in the atmosphere so my photos from so far away were soft, but you get the idea.<\/p>\n
I hadn’t intended to turn into the Wildlife Center but after seeing what I did through my lens, nosy old me had to investigate.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-rookery-8957-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"great-blue-heron-rookery-8957-ron-dudley\\"")
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By the time I got to the parking lot there was already a massive utility pole auger slowly working its way through the frozen marsh toward the rookery. The fact that there was an auger involved told me that there was more going on than just platform maintenance. It looked like they were going to erect another pole to support four new nest platforms.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-rookery-8962-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"great-blue-heron-rookery-8962-ron-dudley\\"")
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And that’s exactly what they did.<\/p>\n
Here we see one of the old poles with attached nesting platforms and a specialized crane for placing a new pole into the hole in the ground that had already been dug by the auger. Leaning against the base of the old pole is one of the four new nesting platforms that will be attached to the new pole when it’s erected.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-rookery-1997-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"great-blue-heron-rookery-1997-ron-dudley\\"")
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An hour later they had the new pole (on the ground in front of the crane) in position for it to be placed into the hole in the ground.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-rookery-1999-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"great-blue-heron-rookery-1999-ron-dudley\\"")
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Two minutes later the new pole was about to be dropped into place. This photo was taken from a completely different angle so the rookery appears to be much more compact than it really is.<\/p>\n
A bunch of the old nests have apparently blown down since last year’s nesting season and now there’s four new platforms so this spring the herons will be building many new nests, in addition to adding sticks to the remaining old ones. I talked to Dave England, Assistant Manager at Farmington Bay WMA, and he’s palpably excited about all the nest-building activities that visitors will be able to see this spring as the herons build that many massive new nests.<\/p>\n
That’s a lot of sticks that have to be delivered.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/great-blue-heron-rookery-2012-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"great-blue-heron-rookery-2012-ron-dudley\\"")
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Here we see the new pole, second from left, after it had been dropped into place (I suspect that the pole on the far left is a relatively new pole too). At this point there was only one nesting platform on the new pole but when I talked to the construction crew they told me that they’d be attaching three more platforms.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/great-blue-heron-4882-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"great-blue-heron-4882-ron-dudley\\"")
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Beginning early this spring there’ll be a lot of opportunities for birders, bird photographers and nature lovers (including droves of school kids who will be visiting the Wildlife Center) to observe some very interesting mating and nest-building behaviors.<\/p>\n
It’ll be exciting times at the rookery.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
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Note:<\/em><\/p>\n I don’t know it for fact but I suspect that Sherry Liquori, Avian\/Environmental Program Manager for Rocky Mountain Power, is heavily involved with this project. If so, take a bow Sherry. Sherry is the wife of the late raptor expert Jerry Liguori.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday morning as I approached the Eccles Wildlife Education Center at Farmington Bay I noticed some kind of hubbub going on in their parking lot. (7 photos)<\/p>\n