I was on Governors Island today for NYC Audubon's "It's Your Tern" festival, celebrating the nesting colonies of Common Terns there (now on all 3 piers along Buttermilk Channel, with young ranging in age from week-old little fuzzies to fledglings practicing flying the length of the piers).
I visited the Yellow-crowned Night-Heron nest, and am happy to report they have 2 fairly large nestlings now, which both parents were shading with half-spread wings today, in punishing heat & sun. There is a second YCNH nest which I discovered along with another birder yesterday, which has an adult sitting on eggs or chicks. This nest is much smaller & more fragile-looking than the aforementioned one that Ben & I initially reported. I only saw one adult at this nest. I wonder if it doesn't have a mate, or if the male at the other nest mated with two females? Also of note on the island are large numbers of Barn & Northern Rough-winged Swallows; I presume both are nesting there. Good albeit hot birding, Gabriel Willow -- 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/ --
