Visitors to South Waterfront and residents alike have a ringside seat from which to watch nesting Great Blue Herons at the South Waterfront. Join Mike Houck, Director of the Urban Greenspaces Institute and Bob Sallinger, Audubon Society of Portland’s Conservation Director, who will have spotting scopes on hand for close-up views of herons in their nests. Please bring your own binoculars and spotting scopes if you have one. The herons start their courtship and nest building in mid to late February, lay eggs in early April and the young are ready to leave their nests in early to mid-June. These spring and early summer nest viewing sessions will provide a great opportunity to track the Ross Island herons from egg laying, feeding young, and young trying out their wings, and finally observing first flight from their nesting colony. All heron nest watches are free and open to the public. No pre-registration is required. Nest watches will go on rain or shine.
The viewing area is just east of the Meriwether Condominiums on the temporary greenway path. The following is the schedule for the Heron viewings, which are also listed on the Community Events page of this website.
Saturday, March 22nd, 2 pm to 4 pm
Saturday, March 29th, noon to 2 pm
Friday, April 4th, 4 pm to 6 pm
Saturday, April 5th, 9 am to 11 am
Saturday, May 10th, 1 pm to 3 pm
Wednesday, May 14th, 5 pm to 7 pm
Wednesday, May 21st, 5 to 7 pm
Monday, June 2nd, 5 pm to 7 pm
Saturday, June 7th, Noon to 3 pm
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Anatoliy (Toliy) Ioffe is a long-time Pacific Northwest resident with a love for the outdoors. He is thrilled to live next to the river, whose valley has been described as Oregon's Garden of Eden.