Silver Lake heron photographer found alive and well!

Well, looks like I was right! How very satisfying.

After I posted my second blog last week about the missing great blue heron photographer, who posted her photographs publicly on the slk reservoir fence, she wrote in my comments this weekend! Go here to read all by Joan M. Harrison, the photographer.

Once again, ye olde heron poster.

Basically, she is an artist who really cares about these birds, and doesn’t care at all about slk politics. How interesting that the CSSLR dragged her into the Meadows fight, without any proof or even logic. CurbedLA stepped up the fight to ringside status.

Some of Joan’s thoughts:

I appreciate your thoughtful remarks about the herons and the artwork. Public art has its own life…sometimes that includes a sticker or two. They just become part of the documentation of the piece…

Today, as I visit CurbedLA, (other boards) I find that the artwork is still being erroneously politicized and linked to non-related issues.

I attended the May SLNC meeting when I found out (the day before the meeting) that others were being “blamed” for creating and hanging my artwork. (I signed the pieces along the edge of the photo…) People who had nothing to do with the creation or installation of the artwork had received hateful e-mails and had been ridiculed online. Ouch again!

I purposely kept the text neutral, so that viewers would have their own experiences and thoughts. If anyone had asked me when I made the work, however, I would have told them that the draining of the lake was probably, in my opinion, the tipping factor against the herons’ return.

Here’s some funny fallout about the missing herons: After she mentioned the Los Feliz Ledger in her comment, I went to check out their July issue; she isn’t mentioned there, but other familiar characters are. Marty Adams, “some kind of scientist,” is quoted (reality check: he’s an engineer and PR spokesman for the dwp), along with our old friend cb, with his monthly column, “Greetings from Tom.”
On page 3, in an article about “return of the herons”:

The great blue herons at the Silver Lake Reservoir, which had gone missing earlier this year, have been spotted again. According to Marty Adams, Director of Water Quality and Operations for the DWP, their return is more than likely due to the replenishment of water in the reservoir.

Hmmm. He’s not the first expert I’d call about birds, as he is the instigator for our $2 million fiasco of bird balls, now rolling all over Ivanhoe to pollute the lake and keep birds AWAY from the neighborhood. Love how he takes credit for their “return,” though, if they even HAVE returned-nobody seems to have seen them- because dwp FINALLY refilled slk after 3 months of empty!

Here’s what LaBonge had to say about the same subject:

The Silver Lake Walking Path is another favorite outdoor spot because I get to see my Silver Lake neighbors and friends, including the great blue herons who nest in the eucalyptus trees.

This is hysterical. I’ve written before that cb worked in the dwp for a few years right before he became Councilman. So these old boys club members are bird lovers, too! It’s really nice when men have a shared interest, like city jobs…or plastic balls…or big blue birds that have been eliminated. That they might be blamed for.