Niagara Falls Ontario Great Egret Colony
Since May 20th I have been monitoring the progress of the Great Egret
Colony in the Niagara River on the small islands above Niagara Falls.
On July 28th when I observed the Great Egret Colony above the Horseshoe
Falls from Three Sisters Island, Goat Island, New York, I could see as many
as seven Great Egrets and more importantly three of them were crouched on a
nest and were nearly full size nestlings. It was raining and not the best
observing conditions, and I relized that I should return under more favorable
conditions.
On August 1st (between 12:19 and 12:44 PM) I again observed the Great
Egret Colony from Three Sisters Island. The three Great Egret nestlings were
very active with strong wing flaps combined with jumping up and down, but not
showing the ability to hover. They still had down on their heads. One of
the nestlings had wandered onto a branch about two feet above the nest. I
also observed a maximum of three adult egrets on the colony, but most of the
time during the study period there was only one or two adults.
Although egrets usually nest on the leeward side of islands, I decided to
go to Canada and observe. Viewing just north of the Engineerium Building (an
historic landmark) (1:44 to 1:55 PM) I could see 15 Common Mergansers, 297
elegantly prehistoric looking Double-crested Cormorants, and an adult
Great Egret standing over a nest with what looked like about two inactive
downy
Great Egret nestlings. I then made several observations from just north of
the Engineerium to about fifty meters north of the Engineerium. At a
position about 30 meters north of the Engineerium I could see above the south
corner of the sunken barge and below the Double-crested Cormorant nests, a
Great Egret nest with four mid-size nestlings. Below this nest was a second
Great Egret nest containing three smaller and very active downy nestlings.
Although I realize that observational duplication is possible, I think
(because of the numbers and ages of the nestlings) that I viewed four active
Great Egret nests with a total of twelve nestlings.
Best Wishes for Great Birding,
Bill Watson
Buffalo Ornithological Society
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