Wednesday evening, August 17, and early Thursday morning, August 18, Jane Graves and I counted Great Egrets and noted their roosting habits at May's Point Pool and Knox-Marsellus Marsh at Montezuma NWR. At sunset, or so, on Wednesday, 5 GREGs from Knox-M flew to May's Point and joined the roosting flock there, making a total of 53+/- GREGs at May's. The remaing 14 GREGs at Knox-M roosted there for the evening. On Thursday at first light, those numbers had not changed, i.e. there was no further shifting of numbers at the two roost sites after last light. On Thursday morning, just prior to sunrise, 12 GREGs from the May's Point roost flew off to and landed at Knox-M. The 14 egrets who had spent the night at Knox-M dispersed locally and continued to forage at Knox-M. Back at May's Point, the remaining egrets foraged locally at May's but two of them flew off to the SE in the direction of the Visitor's Centre. Based on observations of roosting areas of egrets in southern Ontario and western New York,, it is unusual to have two egret roosts, simultaneously active, as close together as May's and Knox-M. It is also unusual to have egrets from one feeding area (Knox-M.) go to two different roosting sites (May's and Knox-M) for their evening siesta. Water levels undoubtedly are a partial factor in determining roosting locations, as a month ago water levels were much lower in Knox-M and egrets did not roost there. Jane (to a larger extent) and I (to a lesser extent) will try to keep tabs on the roosting egrets over the coming weeks. If any local birders would like to assist in tracking numbers of roosting egrets, please email one of us at: [email protected], or [email protected] Cheers, Chip Weseloh Toronto, Ontario
________________________________ From: Jane Graves [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: August 18, 2011 5:52 PM To: Weseloh,Chip [Ontario] Subject: RE: Photos of green wing-tagged GREGs Chip - I can post on GeneseeBirds. I'll send you my small report tomorrow morning. Jane -----Original Message----- From: Weseloh,Chip [Ontario] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thu 8/18/2011 3:23 PM To: Jane Graves Subject: Photos of green wing-tagged GREGs Jane, Here are 2 different shots. Please credit Charles R. Smith. <<Great Egret 30R at West Perth Wetlands, Mitchell Ontario>> <<Great Egret 19H at Reesor Pond, Markham Ontario>> I also plan to do a small write-up tonight for you (?) to to post on Genesse Birds...can you do that? I don't know how to access them, though I get their posts. Thanks again for all your help.....and for dinner...and I do most certainly owe you a drink in Arlington. Cheers., Chip D.V. Chip Weseloh, PhD. Senior Population Assessment Biologist Canadian Wildlife Service ON Environmental Stewardship Branch Environment Canada 4905 Dufferin St. Toronto (Ontario) M3H 5T4 [email protected] Telephone 416-739-5846 Facsimilie 416-739-5845 Government of Canada Website www.ec.gc.ca D.V. Chip Weseloh, PhD. Biologist Evaluation des populations Conservation des Populations Service canadien de la faune ON Direction générale de l'intendance environnementale Environnement Canada 4905 rue Dufferin Toronto (Ontario) M3H 5T4 [email protected] Téléphone 416-739-5846 Télécopieur 416-739-5845 Gouvernement du Canada Site Web www.ec.gc.ca -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
