Tag Archives: smell

Don’t Stand Under the Heron Rookery

The south side of the locks at Ballard has an area of trees along the water which is a heron rookery.  I have been there once when the herons were roosting.  That is not an appealing experience.  The herons are directly above the path and a lot of adult and juvenile birds in their nests results in an almost constant stream of “material” falling onto the bushes and path below.  It is perilous, the odor is intense and the ground underfoot is not as grippy as you might like.

In winter, the herons aren’t roosting, but the area is surprisingly unpleasant even then.  Some cormorants were up in the trees using it as a good spot for picking out their next fishing trip.  They did also imperil those below a little but not to the extent that the herons do.  The cold weather was doing a good job of suppressing the smell and also the slippery nature of the paths.  I took some images of a bench and the bushes which show just how much falls from above.  Heron chicks might be interesting to see but visit this location only when you know what you are letting yourself in for!

A Stinking Rarity

Some plants bloom frequently.  Others bloom once a year.  What is slightly more unusual is a plant that only blooms once every 7-10 years.  The Titan Arum is one such plant and an example lives in the Amazon Spheres in Seattle.  Purely by coincidence, we happened to visit the Spheres when it was blooming.  We had actually missed the peak opening by a day and it was starting to close up again.  It had also had a hole cut into the side to allow pollination artificially. But this was a small price to pay for seeing something so unusual.

One feature the plant is known for is a smell of rotting flesh when it is blooming.  This is supposed to attract insects that then assist with pollination.  There was a bit of an odor but, to be honest, I wasn’t conscious of it being too bad.  Maybe there is a peak period of stinkiness and we missed it or maybe the story has been slightly overblown.  Either way, it was very lucky that we happened to be there during the blooming process and now we might have to wait a few years before it happens again.