PLEASE SAVE THIS EMAIL On June 13, 2008, twenty-two nestling Great Egrets were color-banded at the heron colony on Motor Island in the Niagara River by Dr. David Moore, of the Canadian Wildlife Service-Ontario Region, Connie Adams, Senior Wildlife Biologist, and Tom Summerville, summer intern, both of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Once again I will be asking for birders to look for Great Egrets with RED BANDS WITH WHITE LETTER-NUMBERS USUALLY ABOVE THE “KNEE” OF THE LEFT LEG AND THE TRADITIONAL ALUMINUM BAND ABOVE THE “ANKLE” OF THE RIGHT LEG. The band code on the red band can usually be read with a spotting scope, as the letter-numbers are nearly an inch high. In addition to the 22 egrets banded at Motor Island, 111 nestling Great Egrets were banded in a similar manner at Georgian Bay this June and July. Although in the past most of the color banded Great Egrets were found in Ontario near the north shore of Lake Erie, last year they were found in Dudas marsh, Hamilton: Andrew Haydon Park, Ottawa; Humber River Etbicoke, Toronto; these young egrets could show up anywhere. We have also had resigting of these banded egrets in and near Peterbourgh. Many of the adults started their post-breeding dispersal at the end of June this year. The first banded fledglings disperse from Georgian Bay and Motor Island in July observers start seeing these banded fledglings at the end of July. The months of August and September contain the most resightings of these young egrets; however, were have had winter resightings in North Carolina, Florida, Cuba, and the Azores! That’s right, one of these young egrets wintered in the Azores islands off Portugal and was well photographed and well documented! If you see any color-banded Great Egrets, please record the date, location, number of other egrets with them, and, if possible, the letter(s) and number(s) of the banding code, so we can better document the dispersal pattern of these fledglings. Report all sighting of Great Egret with red color-bands to at least one of the following locations. D. V. Chip Weseloh Canadian Wildlife Service-Ontario Region 4905 Dufferin St. Downsview, Ontario M3H 5T4 Phone: 416-739-5846 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) . and/or Connie Adams NYSDEC 270 Michigan Ave. Buffalo, NY 14203 Phone (716) 851-7010 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) William Watson 771 Fletcher Street Tonawanda, NY 14150 Phone (716) 695-2820 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
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