We saw the Great Blue Heron today.  Spotting one made me realize that I haven't been seeing them much lately.  I used to see one every day, but now I'm seeing the first heron of the year on January 28th.  It could be that my walking routes and times have changed, or that the eagles have been eating them.  They should reach a stable population if we don't interfere with nature too much.  Many predators are gone from ELP, so the food chain is not what it used to be.  Deer, bears, wolves, mountain lions, rabbits, elk, and others are gone from this forest, unlikely to return any time soon.  The avian predators and the fish can still use this ecosystem as if it were an island, isolated by a sea of homes and pavement. Herons are somewhat tolerant of the presence of humans, but they will be disturbed from their fishing if you get too close.  I snapped a picture of the heron for Project Noah, but the iPhone is not ideal for photographing birds.  Some day soon, I will have to go hunting for birds with my telephoto lens on the good camera and see how many species I can bag. 

If a heron was fishing in the shallow water, would you adjust your walking route to give him some space and avoid disturbing him?  Most people hate nature, others are indifferent, and very few people actually appreciate and enjoy nature, judging by the way they manage their yards.  As I walk my dogs through the neighborhoods between Eagle Landing Park and City Hall, I see that nature has been banished from most yards.  They have grass and shrubs and maybe a few trees, but that is not nature.  That is horticulture.  The horticulture industry  makes money by ruining nature.  Horticulture, by definition, says that humans can improve on nature, that nature is inferior.  Horticulture is what most people have and want in their yards.  Very few native plants survive in the yards of suburban homes.  In the neighborhood near ELP, many large native Douglas-firs remain, left standing when the homes were built.  However, those trees are steadily being reduced in number, year after year.  The sound of chainsaws is very common around ELP.

Bringing Nature Home is one of the best books ever written, and if I were King of the World, I would force everyone to read it.  If everyone in Burien read the book and planted their yards full of native plants in place of those acres of lawn, Eagle Landing Park would be much healthier and happier.  What I don't understand is why people think horticultural varieties and exotic species are more beautiful than the native plants that would naturally grow here.  What is it that people hate about nature?  It must be instinctive somehow, a primitive impulse from those days when we were more often prey than predator.  Now, humans pose the greatest danger to humans.  If this hatred of nature is left over from our evolutionary past, then we need to get over it somehow.

I did not always appreciate nature and native species.  I used to be like everyone else, thinking a mowed lawn and a pruned hedge and showy flower cultivars were somehow better.  I would say that education has made the biggest difference in bringing me around to loving nature and native species.  The only reason I can think of that I ever held an anti-nature mind set is that I was brainwashed by society and commerce.  If you would like to un-brainwash yourself, here is a partial list of excellent books to help you appreciate the gifts of nature.

Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Washington Joseph Arnett (2011) ISBN: 9780295990927

The Owl and the Woodpecker: Encounters With North America's Most Iconic Birds Encounters with North America's Most Iconic Birds Paul Bannick (2008) ISBN: 9781594850950

The Emotional Lives of Animals A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy - and Why They Matter Bekoff Jane Goodall (2008) ISBN: 9781577316299

Birds of Washington State Brian H. Bell Shane Kennedy (2006) ISBN: 9781551054308

Northwest Foraging: Wild Edibles of the Pacific Northwest by Doug Benoliel ISBN: 9780913140130

The People of Cascadia Pacific Northwest Native American history Heidi Bohan (2009) ISBN: 9780984252206

Rain Gardens managing water sustainably in the garden and designed landscape Andy Clayden (2007) ISBN: 9780881928266

A Field Guide to the Common Wetland Plants of Western Washington & Northwestern Oregon Sarah S. Cooke (1997) ISBN: 9780914516118

Trees Allen J. Coombes (2002) ISBN: 9780789489890

vascular Plants Of The Pacific Northwest Cronquist Charles Hitchcock ISBN: 9780295739878

Origin Of Species Charles Darwin ISBN: 9780785819110

Climbing Mount Improbable Dawkins Richard Dawkins (1997) ISBN: 9780393316827

The Blind Watchmaker why the evidence of evolution reveals a universe without design Richard Dawkins (1986) ISBN: 9780393315707

The Extended Phenotype the long reach of the gene Richard Dawkins (1999) ISBN: 9780192880512

Collapse How Societies Choose to Fail Or Succeed Jared Diamond (2011) ISBN: 9780143117001

Forest Restoration in Landscapes: Beyond Planting Trees beyond planting trees Nigel Dudley (2005) ISBN: 9780387255255

Mushrooms Neil Fletcher (2002) ISBN: 9780789489869

Evolutionary Biology Douglas J. Futuyma (1998) ISBN: 9780878931897

Field Guide to the Slug: Explore the Secret World of Slugs and Their Kin - in Forests, Fields... (sasquatch Field Guide Series) David G. Gordon (1994) ISBN: 9781570610110

The Tree Collector the life and explorations of David Douglas Syd House (2005) ISBN: 9781845130527

Restoring the Pacific Northwest the art and science of ecological restoration in Cascadia Society for Ecological Restoration International (2006) ISBN: 9781559630788

Wild Plants Of Seattle Arthur Jacobson ISBN: 9790962291820

Animals in Translation using the mysteries of autism to decode animal behavior Catherine Johnson (2006) ISBN: 9780156031448

Plants of Western Oregon, Washington & British Columbia Eugene N. Kozloff (2005) ISBN: 9780881927245

Gardening With Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest Kruckeberg Arthur R. Kruckeberg (1996) ISBN: 9780295974767

The Natural History of Puget Sound Country Kruckeberg Arthur R. Kruckeberg (1995) ISBN: 9780295974774

Living With Wildlife in the Pacific Northwest Russell Link (2004) ISBN: 9780295983868

Natural Capitalism creating the next industrial revolution L. Hunter Lovins (2000) ISBN: 9780316353007

The Hidden Forest The Biography of an Ecosystem Jon R. Luoma (2000) ISBN: 9780805064483

Native American Medicinal Plants

an ethnobotanical dictionary Daniel E. Moerman (2009) ISBN: 9780881929874

Hiking Olympic National Park (rev) Erik Molvar (1996) ISBN: 9781560444572

Between Earth and Sky: Our Intimate Connections to Trees our intimate connections to trees Nalini Nadkarni (2008) ISBN: 9780520248564

Lichens of North America Canadian Museum of Nature (2001) ISBN: 9780300082494

Best Hikes With Dogs Western Washington Dan A. Nelson (2002) ISBN: 9780898868296

The Bond Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them Wayne Pacelle (2011) ISBN: 9780061969782

Winter Twigs a wintertime key to deciduous trees and shrubs of northwestern Oregon and western Washington Patricia L. Packard (2001) ISBN: 9780870715303

Champion Trees of Washington State Robert Van Pelt ISBN: 9780295975634

The Butterflies of Cascadia: a Field Guide to All the Species of Washington, Oregon, and Surrounding Territories a field guide to all the species of Washington, Oregon, and surrounding territories Robert Michael Pyle (2002) ISBN: 9780914516132

The Red Queen sex and the evolution of human nature Matt Ridley (1993) ISBN: 9780060556570

Encyclopedia of Northwest Native Plants for Gardens and Landscapes Kathleen Robson (2007) ISBN: 9780881928631

Propagation of Pacific Northwest Native Plants Robin Rose (1998) ISBN: 9780870714283

Moss Gardening including lichens, liverworts, and other miniatures George Schenk (1997) ISBN: 9780881923704

In My Nature: a Birder's Year At the Montlake Fill a birder's year at the Montlake Fill Constance Sidles Alexandra MacKenzie (2009) ISBN: 9780984200207

The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers, Western Region Richard Spellenberg (1979) ISBN: 9780394504315

Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife With Native Plants how you can sustain wildlife with native plants Douglas W. Tallamy Rick Darke (2009) ISBN: 9780881929928

4 miles today brings me to 75 for the year.