Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1912-11-08
BUILT A BIRD CITY
Louisiana Man Established 1t on
Couple of Acres Of Swamp Land.
FIRST EXPERIMENT IN 1894.

A wonderful bird city, where thou
sands Of snowy herons and other rare
wild fowl live and multiply. is the
proud achievement of Edward A. Nc
Ilhenny Of Avery island. Louisiana.
This spot--it isn't really an island. but
hill emerging from the miles of semi
swamp lands surrounding it--has al
ways been Mr. McIlhenny's home. He
remembers how the wild fowl swarm
ed there when he was child and re.
| members the change upon the advent
of the 1lume hunters in 1881.
Near my home" writes Mr.. Nell
benny in Country Life In America,
there was a wet spot OF a couple OF
acres between the hills. partly covered
with willow, buttonwood and other wa
ter loving trees. marsh grasses and
ferns. About this pond each spring
few green herons and bitterns nestled.
had often thought it might be pos
sible to induce other water loving birds
to make their homes here, and In 1894,
a small dam having been built which
raised the water level couple Of feet,
!
/. the hope Of saving few of the snowy
herons, which at that time had been
almost exterminated by plume hunters.
I'm the spring Of 1895. after many
days OF search in the swamps to the
east of my home, | located two nests
of the snowy heron containing four
young each. These eight young birds
took just before they were large
enough to fly, and having bui t OH the
edge of the pond q large cage covered
with woven wire put the little herons
into it.
FOR the next couple of months
spent considerable time each day with
these birds, who soon grew to" know
me and who showed not the slightest
fear taking their food from my hand,
perching on my shoulders, head or
arms and coming when I called them.
/ was successful in raising all eight OF
these birds and kept them confined
until the latter part of November, when
knew by their uneasiness that they
wanted to follow their migrating in
stincts and leave for the tropical shores
| of South America.
II was quite sure they would return
the next spring to the place where
they were raised and was much graft
fed on the 18th of the following March
TO find four of my snowy herons sit
| ting in the bushes where the home
cage had been the year before Two
days later two more came home, max
ing six raised out Of the eight. two
having either met an uDtimely death
or followed others of their kind to
some other home colony. At first the
homecomers were very shy.
"Gradually, however, they regained
| their old confidence and would let me
| come within q few feet Of them. A
! few DAYS after the arrival Of the SIX
one disappeared, and for the rest or
| the summer there We're only Eve old
! birds at the pond. Two pairs Of these
began building their nests during the
last DAYS Of March, and In due time
! eight sturdy youngsters were added TO
| The five old birds. visited the nests
almost daily, and before the young
!
were as tame as their parents.
| "ln the fall there wore thirteen healthy
birds to go south on migration. All left
( on the same night, The 18th OF Novem-
! Der. The next spring two returned on
March 1S, five on March 20 and six on
| March % On April the first eggs
were laid. Five pairs nested, raising
these birds have been protected III the
most careful manner. Year after year
there has been a marked increase not
onlv in the number of snowy herons,
now. numbering about $500 pairs, but
in other herons and water birds which
have been attracted to Willow pond.
",rhe area Of the pond has been in
creased by twice charging the dam I'M
til there are now about thlrty-nVe
acres of water, in most of when is
growing a thick jungle of swamp low
ing trees and shrubs. affording Ideal
nesting and roosting places for vast
army Of birds. AS the snowy herons
increased yearly they attracted to their
refuge other herons.
There was no very large increase IN
the population Of our bird town until
1905. when there were about 1000 pairs
in MI of five varieties Of herons nesting
in the preserve.
From 1908 TO date the increase has
been very marked. During the spring
Of 1911 number Of attempts were
made to get some sort Of an accurate
count Of the birds, but there were so
many it was quite impossible. AS |
spend a portion OF each day during the
nesting season in the bird town | can
of course make a fairly accurate guess
on the number nesting. think there
were in the spring Of 1911 fully 10000
pairs Of herons nesting and fully 5000
birds that could not nest, as there was
no more room for nests.
Suppose those 10000 pairs raised an
average OF three young. This Is low,
for both the Louisiana heron and little
blue heron lay five eggs ordinarily. the
snowy heron lays four. and there is