August 26 - I observed the Great Egret Colony above the Horseshoe Falls from Three Sisters Islands, Goat Island, Niagara Falls, New York. At 10:50 AM, I could see as many as eight in active Great Egrets. At 11:00 AM one had left, but I found two more to the far left (upstream) in front of the Engineerium. At 11:07 an adult Great Egret flew in and landed next to two nestlings, which suddenly became three nestlings. One of the nestlings stuck its head far down the adult’s throat and appeared to consume all of the food. The adult flew away after feeding the young. All three egret nestlings were wildly flapping their wings. At 11:19 AM a second adult landed next the far left Great Egret and suddenly what I was counting as one Great Egret for the past thirteen minutes became three nestling Great Egrets! The adult was only on the small island about a minute, at which time I had a total of 14 Great Egrets. Since the adults only stayed a minute or two during the feeding period, I assume the thirteen inactive (except when feeding) egrets were all nestlings. At 11:30 AM I could only see eleven egrets, since the two to the far left had slipped back into the foliage. At 11:45 AM I stopped observing. Based on the feeding activity and position of the nestlings there appears to be five egret nests on the island above the Horseshoe (Canadian) Falls and at least 13 nestlings. Note: The late date for Great Egret nestling is July 25 in The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State. Does anyone know the late nesting date for Great Egret nestlings in Ontario? If so, please respond to me privately. I suspect this will be a new late record for Ontario. In the bushes and trees near the south end of Goat Island there was a good fall-out of warblers and migrants. In watching one group of warblers move to another group of bushes, I counted 30 warblers. There was at least 11 species of warblers including Ovenbird, American Redstart, Blackburnian, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Bay-breasted, Canada, Black-and-white, and Black-throated Blue Warblers. Bill Watson Buffalo Ornithological Society --
NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
