olyfriendsofherons update

Looper told me that:
"My mailman said the man who lives at the end of the road, nearest the nests, told him that state biologists stopped the construction. The man said the biologists said: This is a bird sanctuary. Which I doubt is accurate. There were, it turns out, 11 nests in there, which is bigger than previously thought."

The "11 nests" is information from the state biologists. One went on to say to Lucia looper, "I believe 2 were remnants. One of the previously known nests that was active in 2008 wasn’t located and we think the tree could have been broken (by high winds or snow load?) but there’s no way to confirm that. The missing nest was the farthest north in the colony on the north side of the new road. You’re right about the road proximity to the colony – it is very close."

So looper's activism wound up drawing state biologists to the nesting area - very good. What remains to be seen now is if the construction (thus far and any in the future) will cause the herons to seek new trees in which to nest, or if they will use their old nests.

Although it's not out yet, here's a link to the Powell's page for looper's new book.