This can't end well: Eagles and ducklings

Ronald Bog
Photo by Martin DeGrazia

By Diane Hettrick

There's a lot going on in this Ronald Bog photo by Martin DeGrazia. The two eagles are the ones in the previously published photo, landing in Ronald Bog. (see previous article).

In this photo they are sitting on one of the sandbag barriers put in place to prevent sediment from entering the lake during the park remodeling project.

The large black plastic bags outside and inside the barrier wall are also part of the project.

If you look closely, there are two mother ducks with large broods of ducklings swimming inside the barrier. One has a brood of 13 and the other has 7-9. The eagles are clearly interested.

I asked Martin what happened to the ducklings but he didn't stay to see. 

I did check in with Sound Transit for an update on the park.

Rebecca McAndrew, Sound Transit Senior Environmental Planner reported: 

Most of the work is finished at Ronald Bog. The contractor should be hydroseeding the lawn outside of the mitigation area this week. The ideal time to hydroseed is after March when there is no chance of frost. 

The three interpretive signs to be installed are almost done. I believe the parking lot will need to be restriped and there could be a few other minor things that need to be done before the park is reopened. 

The sandbag wall (also called a cofferdam) isolates the work area from the rest of the pond so sediment-laden water (stirred up while the contractor disturbs soil) doesn’t enter the main pond and flow downstream on the North Branch of Thornton Creek. 

The “fish window” — when in-water work may occur — for Ronald Bog is July 1 to September 30.  

Since work continued after September 30, the wall had to be left over the winter and spring. The sandbags will be removed once the fish window opens again.