May 3 - Niagara Falls - Studying the Great Egret - Black-crown Night Heron - Double-crested Cormorant Colony (which is on the islands above the Canadian (Horseshoe) Falls near the sunken Barge) I Was very surprised to see an Adult Great Egret feeding two nestlings !!! This colony produced very late Great Egret nestlings last year and amazingly early nestlings this year. The record earliest Great Egret nestlings in New York State are on May 21, but these bird are in Canada of course. On the colony I counted: 25 adult Great Egrets, two nestling Great Egrets and 13 active nests. there were also another 6 Great Egrets on Goat Island (4 egrets on Three Sisters Islands and 2 on the small islands at the brink on the Canadian Falls). They were observed stealing sticks from Goat Island in the United States and taking them to the colony in Canada. 146 adult Black-crowned Night-Herons 310 elegantly prehistoric looking Double-crested Cormorants and 224 nests These observations were made from Three Sisters Islands at Goat Island, bur the Colony is also visible from Niagara Falls Ontario. Also on Goat Island were 14 Yellow Warblers, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, Palm Warbler, Nashville Warbler, 2 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Least Flycatcher, Brown Thrasher, White-crowned Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, Warbling Vireo, Peregrine Falcon adult on nest (in the square hole in the old Ontario Hydro Building which is just below the Canadian Falls (The hole is below the 14 window from the left as seen from Goat Island.) A Common Raven also flew by. Lot of other stuff too. I should also mention a SWALLOW-TAILED KITE soared over Hamburg Hawk Watch May 2 at 3:24 pm EDT, flying north. The Hamburg Hawk Watch is just south of Buffalo, NY, so this bird might show up at the Grimbsby, Ontario, hawk watch today! Best Wishes for Great Birds, Bill Watson _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
