Yesterday Sun and I kayaked on pristine Davenport Pond in north
Petersham. It’s part of a 80 acre parcel owned by the town and I did a
Forest Management Plan last fall. There is a small ¼ acre island in the
middle of the pond that we headed out to after paddling around and
seeing lots of beaver activity and spooking a lot of ducks. I knew there
were nests of great blue herons up on the dead pines and other big pines
around the shore but we soon discovered the island was one big heron
rookery! We spooked about 8 of the big birds! The island consisted of
some good size hemlock, white pine, and a nice red oak. I was sorry I
had disturbed all those birds so we quickly got off the island and
paddled away. A few minutes later we saw the big birds returning to
their nests. I know that repeated disturbance could drive the big birds
away or interfere with their nesting so we won’t go back until the fall.
Access to the pond requires a portage of about a 100 yards over a few
stone walls and through the woods which I hope keeps other boaters away.
But I think we were one of the very few to ever float on that pond and
that’s good.
In my forest management plan, all timber harvesting will take place in
the winter months when the herons are gone. There are some white pine
stands that need thinning (from below) but there is a magnificent stand
of red oak with a few nice ash and sugar maple that we’ll be leaving
alone. We’ll also make sure there’s a good buffer around the pond and
all nests are protected.

We didn’t have a name for that island before but now I’ll refer to it as
Great Blue Heron Isle.

Mike