Blue Herons Find Unlikely Haven -- Birds Flourish Near Auburn Supermall

AUBURN - It's not surprising that development, traffic and noise all are flourishing in suburban South King County.

But so is a colony of 3-foot-tall herons that has chosen the midst of it all - near one of the South End's busiest intersections - to build its nests and rear young.

Even though 12,000 cars pass within a quarter-mile each rush hour, a tiny marsh on the west side of town is attracting twice as many great blue herons now as a decade ago, bird-watchers say.

The graceful, long-necked wading birds are supposed to be skittish around humans, especially when mating.

Yet in Auburn, the birds return each spring to perform their elaborate courtship dances in a marsh where the dominant sound is the roar of traffic.

As they rummage around their bulky nests this spring, the herons also appear unfazed by their newest neighbor: the Supermall of the Great Northwest, scheduled to open this summer only 500 yards away.

"It's fascinating how much abuse they can take," said Thais Bock, a Federal Way teacher who helped save the marsh from becoming a road in the mid-1970s.

This month, bird-watchers counted 25 to 30 nests in the alder trees, now home to as many as 60 herons.

Ten years ago, bird-watchers counted 15 nests, and 20 years ago only a handful of herons visited the marsh, Bock said.

The nesting ground's popularity is all the more surprising because it's there by accident.

The estimated three-acre marsh grew out of a pit left behind when gravel was mined to build adjacent Highway 18 in the 1950s.

"This has never been a pristine area. Sometimes nature just finds a place for itself," said Laura Stiles, president of the Rainier Audubon Society, which cares for the marsh.

"Frankly, I don't know why they keep coming back here, unless it's because they don't have anywhere else to go," said Bruce Harpham, also of the society.

Politically, this urban breeding ground has become a mixed blessing to environmentalists. Several developers have cited the Auburn marsh as evidence that roads and housing tracts can be built right to the edge of heron rookeries, Stiles said.

Although herons often hunt and fish around densely populated areas, it's quite rare for a nesting ground to prosper when it's constantly being disturbed, according to Robert Butler, a heron expert with the Canadian Wildlife Service in British Columbia.

Near the Auburn marsh, herons with 6- to 7-foot wing spans can be seen swooping out low over Highway 18 and Highway 167, two of the region's busiest freeways, to hunt for snakes and mice.

Supporters of the marsh fear development in the Green River Valley soon could make it impossible for the birds to find enough food. Herons typically hunt as far as 10 miles from their nests.

The marsh is open to visitors year-round, though the herons only inhabit the nests from February through June.

The rest of the year they wander the Puget Sound region alone, fishing and hunting.

The marsh has a small trail, an open viewing area and an adjacent parking lot. It's at the corner of Peasley Canyon Road and the West Valley Highway.