Pioneer Park Aviary

My brother Ian gave us his whole day on Monday, while we were visiting him and Karen in Walla Walla. We first stopped by Karen’s practice in town. Her career is the reason they moved from Seattle, which they loved. Karen has been a practicing Naturopathic Doctor for about one year and just beginning her career and trying to find clients. There is a great demand for her skills in Walla Walla, making the establishment of a new practice easier in this smaller, remote town in eastern Washington state.

Karen is really Dr. Appel, and her new business is Be Well Natural Medicine. She had admin hours Monday morning, so we stopped by to see her offices and to bring a boxed lunch. We cut it short because she was at work, hugged goodbye, and walked from there to Pioneer Park.

Close to the center of Walla Walla is the city’s oldest park (1902), Pioneer Park, that has trails, ponds, record-holding old growth trees, monuments, a rose garden, and a historic bandstand. We found a sign in the park that maps out many of the massive trees, and ranks them with other trees in the state of Washington. Many record-holders for size and age in the state are right there in Pioneer Park. What is most astonishing about this park however, is an aviary hosting around 200 birds of 30-35 different species, including waterfowl, in enclosed spaces that include incubation and rearing facilities with a care and quarantine area for birds.

Originally built with donated funds, the Pioneer Park Aviary opened in 1983, though the structure at that time was actually replacing a less official structure that had already been erected. Information about the aviary states that animals have been a part of the park since the 1960s, whatever that means. The park is owned and managed by the city, and during much of its existence, renovations and operating budget has been through donations. The community is hugely supportive of the aviary, and they come forward at times when the need is great, and keep the facility going.

The aviary includes a large, enclosed pond surrounded by five smaller buildings with birds, as well as the larger incubation and rearing facility. We approached from the opposite side of the park and walked over on a cold and rainy day. Probably the worst conditions for viewing the birds, but despite that, we were delighted and impressed with the variety of species here.

I found it difficult to photograph in the rain and between chain links. The fence surrounding the water had larger holes, so I had the opportunity to photograph through the holes. But the smaller enclosures for the non-water birds had tightly woven metal fencing and it was hopeless.

One fascinating thing is the amazing variety of wild birds just hanging around the aviary. There were more types of ducks just free in the park than in any park I can remember seeing.

We saw the craziest scene while we were there. Even with photos and discussion about it afterward, we do not know what we witnessed. It appeared for all the world as though the Black swan was getting ready to eat a dead duck. The huge black bird was standing on top of the large duck and jabbing its beak into it, and pulling hard at feathers and wing. We watched in morbid fascination expecting at any moment to see shreds of flesh being pulled from the duck on the ground, but it did not happen. The Black swan had one foot firmly planted on the duck’s head, appearing to pin it to the ground. Suddenly, the duck below hopped up and ran off, without so much as a limp.

No idea.

I am eager to come back and see the aviary on a warm day. There is also apparently a 10-year-old tortoise named Nicholas that lives here too, but he only comes out when the weather is nice.

Ian said that he and Karen had only discovered the aviary a week earlier, despite having lived there for months, Karen’s office being only a couple blocks away, and the two of them always seeking out trails and interesting things to see. I had not heard of it either, though I had done research prior to visiting, trying to find things to do in the city in Winter. I did my part to help rectify the situation, and contributed an entry to Atlas Obscura, the website I typically use to find cool stuff in new places. If my entry and photos are approved, it will be available for future visitors to find. I didn’t mention the goose-on-duck violence, though.