On this past Wednesday and Thursday evenings Linda McKaren, Tina Knezevic and/or I counted 73-77 Great Egrets roosting in the South Pond of the Monticello Wetland Complex at the north end of the Luther Marsh area, north of Grand Valley. This is the same place where they have been roosting at Luther for the last three years. The egrets returned to the roost over a three hour period from about 6 - 9 PM. Luther Marsh is located approximately 62 kms from the nearest egret breeding colony near Collingwood and 98 kms from a secoond breeding colony near Southampton. More than 130 young egrets were banded and wing-tagged at these two sites this summer but none of the 77 egrets at Luther were so marked. This suggests that most/all of the egrets at Luther were adults which is consistent with the assumption that the first egrets to leave their colony in mid-late summer are failed (adult) breeders and/or, secondarily, birds who were early breeders and whose young are independent.
In 2010, there were also NO wing-tagged egrets at Luther on 21 July but Tyler Hoar and I did see 2 there on 27 July. Likewise, the first wing-tagged egrets reported by the public in 2010 occurred on 26 July. This all suggests that Ontbirders should be on the lookout this week-end when the first wing-tagged young egrets (or Great Blue Herons) of the year might be seen away from their colony sites. Also, last year, several Ontbirders reported active egret roosts at this time of the year. We know the one at Luther is active; Bruce DiLabio, Rod Dubois and Tony Beck have all reported egrets roosting at Conroy Island near Ottawa recently. How about the roosts at Wheatley, Cornwall, Hespeler, the Rouge River mouth, London, Metcalf, Hullett, Hamilton, Holiday Beach, Wildwood or any of the ones in western NY? Can anyone check those out over the week-end and repoort back to me personally? Thanks, Chip Weseloh _______________________________________________ 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/
