Where Have All The Herons Gone

The silence along Brackenridge Park’s Lambert Beach was deafening the morning of July 9. Two years ago, the area rang with the calls of herons, egrets, cormorants, Egyptian geese, and ducks. The sound of nature creating new life in man’s carefully created urban environment.  

A pair of Egyptian Geese stand by the San Antonio River in Brackenridge Park July 9. Photo: Chris Belcher

On Brackenridge Drive, once crowded with herons, egrets, and their fledglings, only a couple of ducks loitered lazily in the morning sun. A pair of Egyptian Geese watched over their goslings swimming in the San Antonio River where dozens of geese once ruled the grass strip between the street and river.  

Two years ago, the rookery had moved from the area adjacent to the San Antonio Zoo above the river to a picnic area adjacent to Joske’s Pavilion. It stopped park visitors from enjoying a lunch under the shade of native trees in an area surrounded by greenery and within sight of the river.  

Eyeball balloons in the trees along the San Antonio River, Brackenridge Park, April 8, 2022. Photo: Chris Belcher

The city responded by putting balloons and streamers in the trees. Park employees walked around the area slamming small pieces of 2x4 wood together to harass the birds. In the early morning pyrotechnics were used to harass the birds and encourage them to leave. Bird advocates protested the actions the city was taking. The birds built their nest, laid eggs and began the process of starting life anew. The war was at a stalemate for that year.  

The next year the city fenced off the areas the birds had occupied and increased the harassment to the point the birds were forced to leave Brackenridge Park. They moved across Hildebrandt Avenue to an area above Olmos Creek along the border of Headwaters at Incarnate Word.  

This year the birds made the decision to seek a friendlier neighborhood to raise their young. They are nowhere to be seen and have abandoned an area they’ve used for years in urban San Antonio.  

A Parks and Recreation contractor employee patrols the park with a pair of 2x4s looking for birds July 9. Photo: Chris Belcher

This July there was still a lone park employee patrolling with a set of 2x4s to discourage any bird that might get the mistaken impression that Brackenridge Park was a bird friendly neighborhood.  

As I walked along the river that morning. I had to ask myself if we had traded our partnership with the natural world for convenience. The convenience of not smelling the bird guano that piled up beneath the rookery. The convenience of not being overwhelmed with the loud cries of hundreds of birds congregated in a small area. The convenience of not seeing the death of baby birds that comes with life in a rookery. The convenience of not giving up one picnic area in a large urban park.   

Had we given up the natural beauty of nature in our carefully crafted urban environment for our own convenience or as some insisted because it was better for the environment if the birds weren’t there.  

I don’t have a better answer today than I did two years ago when I stopped working on my news story about the rookery. I was trying to show the complexity of the human/nature conflict that was playing out. I reached a point where I couldn’t figure out how best to show both sides of the conflict. I could understand San Antonio Parks and Recreations’ desire to allow park visitors to enjoy the facilities free from potential hazards. I could understand the bird advocates desire to see the birds allowed the freedom to nest and raise the next generation of water birds. What I couldn’t do was show how both human sides of the conflict were right in some ways and wrong in others.  

The morning of July 9 I finally realized. I could never explain why we chose convenience over the messy beauty of nature in a small part of our city. Maybe some day we’ll see Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Little Blue Herons, Tri-colored Herons, Great Blue Herons, and Cormorants free to nest within the borders of San Antonio. I’m afraid that I may not see that day.  

But I’ll keep exploring the San Antonio Metropolitan area and finding those places where humans and nature have come to exist side-by-side. Areas where the diversity of wildlife in our city makes it a great place to live. Maybe, just maybe I’ll stand at the edge of a rookery in or near Brackenridge Park again and marvel at the beauty of the birds making it their temporary home.