It's been a rough start for the Waterman Creek rookery with four consecutive weeks of high winds, freezing rain and snow through April and early May...nesting pairs dropped dramatically early on, but have recovered and "hopefully" stabilized now.
The trees will be too leaf covered in only a short time now so we made some last surveys of occupied nests and are estimating 20-21 occupied nests. This is down about 25-30% from last year, but 2012 was the largest nesting year there we've witnessed. The great Blue Herons are flying over the tree and building tops on the acreage here, making for some fun viewing. The nightly vocal discourse is fun through the early summer evening too. ...Bruce Morrison, S.E. O'Brien County http://www.morrisons-studio.com http://prairiepainter.blogspot.com --- Please contribute your sightings to our list; it is only as good as members make it! --- Birding channel recommendation for FRS/GMRS radio use: Primary selection; channel 5/0 , alternate selection; channel 6/0 --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/PayDues.aspx. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]
