This investigation of Heron Haven is undertaken pursuant to a resolution of the Dubious Goals Committee dated May 26, 2018.
Heron Haven is located in the city of Omaha, next to a main highway. It is in a less developed valley, with the older, built-up city to the east and modern suburban sprawl to the west.
I arrived around 1 PM on a very hot afternoon. This is the nature center building, right by the entrance.
Right behind the nature center is the dragonfly pond.
This is the fork in the main trail. To the right is the short path to the boardwalk. The blinds and smaller ponds are in the other direction. The robin is considering the options.
I left it to make up its own mind.
Around this time, I saw what may have been a heron, flying over the trees toward the lake. I did not get a good look at it.
I followed the boardwalk trail and discovered these bushes.
Three distinguished personages had assembled at the side of the pond. Look closely and you'll find them all.
The bench made an excellent observation point.
One of the distinguished personages eventually decided to move into the water.
These plants were growing at the other end of the bench.
This solitary character was waiting at the next approach to the pond.
They may be mallows in a marsh, but they are not marshmallows.
Closer to the boardwalk, cattails appeared.
Finally I reached the boardwalk.
Turtles can be tricky to photograph. This is the best shot I could get.
There were a lot of fish and dragonflies at the lake too. I did not attempt to photograph any of them. Have a picture of these metal frames instead.
What's going on here? A deer has come down to the lake, and the geese are not about to put up with intruders. The incident was too brief for me to get a better picture.
The boardwalk was quite warm in the full sun, so I did not stay long.
On the way back from the boardwalk, I passed the distinguished personages again.
SQUIRREL! Watch out for falling nuts!
I had just passed the wall blind when I heard someone hammering on a tree. I looked up and spotted one of these creatures.
I don't remember where I took this picture from.
Then I got to the photo blind at the north end of the lake. I did not get any good photos at the photo blind because the sun's angle was bad.
I walked around the upland trail loop, and took a few pictures of the woods.
On the way back, I passed a family of ducks.
There were a lot of ducklings.
Can you count how many there are?
One, two, three... twelve?
Near the wall blind, I found this spiky-looking plant.
I stopped by the mushroom garden, but it was too hot and dry for mushrooms.
That concludes my trip to Heron Haven. It is a very dense natural area, with plenty to see if you can stop and wait and look into details. I recommend stopping in if you have the chance. Or listen in to aNONradio at 19:30 UTC, and you might catch a report.