Great Blue Heron
(Ardea herodias)
The clubbers on the war canoes were having a blast on Wednesday morning and I swear our heron, Steve*, looked sad to be missing out. Many of you have seen him standing on a boat or the ends of the docks or flying overhead with his little feet sticking out behind him. Many of you have named him. But what do we really know about our neighbor?
A few years ago, I asked Twan Leenders why we never see Mrs. Steve hanging out on the docks with her fellow, and the answer surprised me.
In spite of the fact that we see him everyday, our friend doesn't actually live on grounds or even bother with an overnight Gate Pass. He's just a day camper. Every night he heads off to bunk at the rookery or heronry with his family and friends. From Cornell: "Most breeding colonies are located within 2 to 4 miles of feeding areas, often in isolated swamps or on islands, and near lakes and ponds bordered by forests. Colonies can consist of 500 or more individual nests, with multiple nests per tree built 100 or more feet off the ground."
Twan says this about the Chautauqua Lake population: "I only know of a few sizable rookeries in the area, but suspect that most just nest individually, tucked into a wooded area. There always seems to be breeding activity near the DEC Fish Hatchery and on our neighboring preserves at the mouth of Pendergast Creek—which is likely the location closest to the Institution. There are undoubtedly more breeding spots in the barely accessible wetlands on the north end of the lake, in the Big Inlet and Little Inlet floodplains." Twan's photo below shows a nest near Frewsburg.
Despite the fact that the colony is so close, we aren't likely to meet any of Steve's friends or lovers because his hunting territory is not something he shares. "Away from the colony, Great Blue Herons defend feeding territories from other herons with dramatic displays in which the birds approach intruders with their head thrown back, wings outstretched, and bill pointing skyward. Gulls and even humans may also be a target of this defensive maneuver." (Cornell)
Since he didn't get ugly with me when I crept out on the dock to take his photo, I think it's only a matter of time before I get invited out to the rookery to meet wife and kids. I'm eager to see that!
Leslie Renjilian
Heron Househunter
* I was told with some authority that our guy's name is Steve. Coincidentally, we call the heron who hunts in our koi pond back home "Stephen Crane," but we never shorten to Steve. Does your family call Chautauqua Steve by a different name? Share your story!
Here are some more fun facts on herons from Cornell's All About Birds:
Despite their impressive size, Great Blue Herons weigh only 5 to 6 pounds thanks in part to their hollow bones—a feature all birds share.
Great Blue Herons in the northeastern U.S. and southern Canada have benefited from the recovery of beaver populations, which have created a patchwork of swamps and meadows well-suited to foraging and nesting.
Great Blue Herons have specialized feathers on their chest that continually grow and fray. The herons comb this “powder down” with a fringed claw on their middle toes, using the down like a washcloth to remove fish slime and other oils from their feathers as they preen. Applying the powder to their underparts protects their feathers against the slime and oils of swamps.
Great Blue Herons congregate at fish hatcheries, creating potential problems for the fish farmers. A study found that herons ate mostly diseased fish that would have died shortly anyway. Sick fish spent more time near the surface of the water where they were more vulnerable to the herons.
Great Blue Herons eat nearly anything within striking distance, including fish, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, insects, and other birds. They grab smaller prey in their strong mandibles or use their dagger-like bills to impale larger fish, often shaking them to break or relax the sharp spines before gulping them down.
What's In Bloom?
Angelica Atropurpurea
AKA Purple-stemmed Angelica, purplestem angelica, great angelica, American angelica, high angelica, and masterwort
While weeding by the Bell Tower on Wednesday, Betsy and her team came across an unusual flower: the purplestem angelica (Angelica atropurpurea). This native flower loves moist soil, so is a natural fit for the lakeside, but seeing one in bloom is a bit of a thrill because this plant blooms only once in its multi-year life. It primarily grows in wetlands or along water, and it’s even an official Wetland Indicator Species—confirmation that the lake is wet!
The first written record of this plant was by William Bartram in the 1770s. Today, this flower is used in gardens around water features as it’s popular with pollinators and deer resistant. Pollinators love it because of its intoxicating effect on bugs—it's reported that bumblebees and butterflies fly clumsily and sometimes are even unable to fly after drinking its nectar (insert drinking joke here). Despite that, this flower is definitely not one you see every day. In fact, it’s considered endangered in the state of Rhode Island (though it’s classed as “fairly widespread” in Massachusetts).
So how do you recognize this plant? The stem, as the name suggests, is a lovely purple and is erect, smooth, and hollow. The flowers grow in umbels, umbrella-like shapes like in Queen Anne’s lace, which makes sense as both this and Queen Anne’s lace are in the same plant family as carrots and parsley—Apiaceae. Unlike Queen Anne’s Lace, the umbels of the purplestem angelica form a ball or globelike shape. But mixing it up with Queen Anne’s Lace is not much of a concern—the risky lookalike to this plant is the invasive and dangerous hogweed, and deadly water hemlock and poison hemlock. One thing to check is the smoothness of the stems—on hogweed, the stems are hairy and the leaves lobed, while angelica has smooth stems and small leaflets. For the hemlocks, their leaves are much thinner than this angelica plant.
This plant is not just “purty”—it’s edible, medicinal, and culturally significant to many indigenous people. The name actually comes from its wide range of uses—a legend says that an angel revealed its healing powers to humankind, hence the name angelica. The young stalks can be eaten like celery and the flavor is apparently similar, though some sources say the flavor is closer to licorice. Despite the taste being potentially celeriac, early colonists used parts of the plant for cake and candy flavoring. Across the pond in Europe, angelica was a treatment for alcoholism.
Indigenous groups in the US used it medicinally and religiously—there are too many groups and uses to make an exhaustive list but here’s a sampling:
Some groups in California burned angelica during shaman's prayers
Native peoples in Arkansas carried it in their medicine bags and mixed it with tobacco for smoking
The Mvskoke Creek (Muscogee) tribe use it medicinally to cure back pain, calm panic attacks, and treat tummy aches, and ceremonially during the Ribbon Dance in the Green Corn Ceremony. The Creek name for this important plant is notossv.
If you’re in the mood for a floral scavenger hunt, cut in towards the lake next to Timothy’s Playground in Lower Miller Park and try to find this special plant for yourself. Otherwise, join us at the weekly Gloves on Gardening on Wednesday morning and someone can point it out to you, and you’ll have a front row seat to whatever we discover next in the beautiful wilds of the shores!
Ginny Renjilian
Angelica Admirer
Monday July 29
12:30-1:30pm Brown Bags for Little Sprouts with Lynette Caplice
Location: Smith Wilkes Hall Patio
Location: Pier Building
Tuesday July 30
Location: Smith Wilkes Hall
Wednesday July 31
Location: Lower Miller Park Shoreline
12:30-2:30pm Shipman Garden History & Horticulture Tours
Location: Miller Cottage Gardens (24 Miller)
There will be a historical garden tour at 12:30PM and horticulture Q&A at 1:30PM.
4:15pm Tree Walk with Jack Gulvin
Location: Smith Wilkes Hall patio
Thursday August 1
Location: Meet at the Corner of Massey & Hawthorne. Forest Bathing will take place in the Secret Silo Garden.
Wear comfortable clothes.
4:15pm: Bird Talk with Twan Leenders
Location: Pier Building
Friday August 2
9:00am Nature Walk with Jack Gulvin
Location: Smith Wilkes Hall Patio
Note: No Betsy Garden Walk this week at 12:30 because of the...
12:00-1:30pm Life Member Annual Lunch
Speaker: Clara Miller, Curator at Miller Cottage, "BTGiants: Our Foremothers (and Forefathers)"
Location: Athenaeum Hotel Parlor
Note: The luncheon is sold out but we usually have last-minute cancellations. To be added to a Wait List, email Susy Warren, our Membership Chair at treasurer@chautauquabtg.org
4:15-4:45pm: Monarch Master Class with Betsy (see below)
Location: Betsy's Shop, 4710 Chautauqua Stedman Road (Betsy's Shop is in the new Maintenance Building just past Andriaccio's).
Monarch Master Class with Betsy
Friday, August 2
4:15-4:45pm
The Monarchs have finally arrived in Chautauqua! It seems like I saw my first one about 10 days ago. They got busy doing what they are supposed to do and now we are finding eggs. In response, Betsy and her crew (and her kids!) have re-opened the seasonal Monarch Maternity Ward and Caterpillar Nursery at the Garden Shop. The larvae are munching on milkweed in their netted cages and one or two should turn to chrysalis this week. It's time for Show and Tell!
Whether or not you're planning to go on the Monarch Migration Trip to Mexico in February, you won't want to miss this pop-up Monarch Master Class! In addition to showing us the live action happening in the netted cages, Betsy will show slides from her years of work planting "kitchen gardens" all around Chautauqua to nourish the caterpillars, collecting eggs, raising caterpillars, and tagging and releasing butterflies.
Location: Betsy's Shop, 4710 Chautauqua Stedman Road
"The Shop" is in the new Maintenance Building just past Andriaccio's.
You can walk or bike, of course, or park your own car there. You can also take the Main Lot Shuttle bus to the top of the Overflow Lot. It's a short walk from the bus stop to the Shop.
Looking Ahead - Upcoming Events
Week 7
Next Sunday, the Hebrew Congregation will kick off Week 7 with an informational event that might be of interest to BTGers. Chautauquans Kelly Ann Boyce, George Fechter, and Crissie Fulton are working to endow this garden space in Cross Walk Park. Come hear more!
Week 8
Smith Wilkes Hall Turns 100: A Musical Celebration
Musician and Former Trustee Greg Miller reached out to us in the spring with an offer we couldn't refuse - he planned to hire CSO musicians and to convince his lovely wife Bijou to perform in a world debut of his original music - a Chamber Music and More, if you will. The venue he most loves in Chautauqua is Smith Wilkes Hall and he offered to donate the proceeds from this event to the BTG. What a way to celebrate its 100th birthday! Thank you, Greg!
Galen May designed the beautiful invitation below. The background is Greg's original score in Greg's handwriting.
The cost is $15. You can buy your ticket here.
Week 9
The Stow Ferry Cocktail Cruise
We got rained out last year, but we're trying again this summer! Join us on Wednesday, August 21st for a Cocktail Cruise on the Stow Ferry. (Rain date: Thursday, August 22nd). We will launch at 6pm with the intention of allowing passengers the chance to return to Chq for the Amp show that night.
We will ride the historic Stow Ferry across the lake from Stow to Bemus Point and back on the historic Stow Ferry, stopping in the middle to enjoy cocktails and crudité on board. Ferry Captain Chris Flanders will tell us the history of the ferry and Biologist Twan Leenders will talk about the birds, fish, and ecology of the lake.
The event is open to Life Members and their guests. Tickets are $45 per person.
Week Five In Photos
Monday:
Cathy Clark, with a vase of hydrangeas (which she says "arrange themselves"), iabout to leave the BTG Boardroom at Smith Wilkes Hall. She delivered them to the Athenaeum Hotel where they were placed in Maya van Rossum's room ahead of her arrival.
Hospitality is in the details and we are grateful to our volunteers for the notes, flowers, Swedish cookies and lemon water—all of which go a long way toward making our members and visitors feel welcomed and loved at our events.
By the way, the green wicker chairs behind Cathy are painted Benjamin Moore's "Dill Pickle." Could there be a better name? Come visit us in the boardroom sometime! We are there most afternoons.
Our Lake Walk Coordinator, Dede Trefts, introducing Vince Moriarty and Mike Kelly of the Jefferson Project at Monday's Lake Walk.
Tuesday:
Maya van Rossum spoke at our Brown Bag Lecture last Tuesday. Maya is the Delaware River Keeper and the author of The Green Amendment, Securing Our Rights to a Healthy Environment.
She is passionate about securing constitutional recognition and protection for the environment and so energetic that I honestly don't know why she's not just a blur in this photo. Excellent photog skills, Jeanne!
Our Treasurer, Cesca Koron, selling plates at last week's Brown Bag Lecture. Kudos to Cesca and Jenny Rappole for this successful fund-raiser!
Pre-ordered plates can be picked up on Tuesdays during the Brown Bag lecture in the Smith Wilkes Hall kitchen (go around to the lakeside patio behind Smith Wilkes Hall). Please note: we are discontinuing the daily pickup option. Linnea has been sitting lonely in that musty kitchen daily from 12-1pm with very few customers, so we are scrapping that plan.
Please email Linnea at Hospitality@chautauquabtg.org if you cannot pick up your plate on a Tuesday and would like to arrange an alternate pick up time and date.
We have sold out of the green plates, but blue ones are still available! Plates can be purchased for $50 each or $535 a dozen.
Tuesdays 12:00-1:00pm at our Brown Bag Lectures at Smith Wilkes Hall
Wednesday:
Your editor, Leslie Renjilian, getting after some Alder Buckthorn at Gloves-on Gardening in the Shoreline Garden Wednesday morning.
Fern Jaffe, Life Member and Gloves-on Gardening Volunteer, shows the difference between invasive Alder Buckthorn and native Dogwood growing side-by-side in the Shoreline Garden in Bell Tower Park. Below: dogwood on right; buckthorn on left
A participant in last Thursday's Forest Bathing sits alone in the woods near the Secret Silo Garden. After gathering together for about 10 minutes, our leader Kate Mayberry sends us out on our own. If you keep meaning to come, but think you can't do anything at 7:30am, think again, it's worth it! Learn more by clicking this link.
Sad news: We lost a big hickory tree behind the YAC during a gusty wind storm on Tuesday. Fortunately, no one was hurt and the Garden Team and Maple Springs Tree Service cleared the tree quickly.
Thursday:
As part of our new Little Sprouts Programming, Ranger Ginny led a Nature Workshop at Club for the boys in Group 2B on Wednesday. Pictured here with Nature Counselor Renan Beckman and 2B Head Counselor Susie Anderson, Ranger Ginny Renjilian is an Urban Park Ranger in Manhattan. (yes, she is also my daughter!). Ranger Ginny led a Lake Walk for the BTG last summer and led a group of Chautauquans on a Central Park Nature Walk in NYC last spring.
I got some really cute photos of the boys practicing different wing movements but I'm afraid to share them for privacy concerns.
Forest Bathing in the Ravine on this week, I stumbled on new benches in the RTP Classroom. Volunteer Extraordinaire Vince Zalesky has been restoring the benches at his workshop in Buffalo. The old benches were rotten and he took this project on in 2023. So much progress with more to come! Thank you, Vince!
Those who attended the Thursday Bird Chat last week were treated to a double dose of brilliance—Twan Leenders led the chat but Jack Gulvin was in attendance and when Twan learned there were still some purple martins who had not fledged, he turned the mic over to Jack for one last mini-martin chat. At left, Jack holds his hand over the young martins to keep them from jumping out of the nest box.
In addition to the Lake Walk on Monday, Twan will lead the Bird Chats for the remainder of the season and the Brown Bag Week 9. He will also lead a Chq Travels trip to Costa Rica in March. Learn more here.
Friday:
Nearly 70 people attended Betsy's Friday Garden Walk which began in the Oval Garden beside the Athenaeum and progressed uphill to the Fultz and Haker Gardens behind the Amp. Hydrangea were a big topic and many lucky gardeners had their vexing questions answered.
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