During the evenings and/or mornings of the last 3 days I have been trying to locate the roosting site to which the egrets from the Tilbury Wastewater Treatment Plant fly. Ken Burrell provided data which showed the egrets fly north from the Treatment Plant fly to (or toward) Lighthouse Cove; my morning observations there yesterday provide futile. This morning at the public boat launch at the north end of Jeanette's Creek Road (the north-south road in the village of Jeanette's Creek near the Essex-Kent Co. line) was a little more rewarding; at 716 AM I noted 12 Great Egrets flying ENE (more or less parallel to the Thames River, going upstream) 100-200m south of me. Obviously, these egrets were not among those that frequented the Treatment Plant ponds but they appear to use the same roost. Trying to back track along their flightline by seeing other egrets was also futile. From the track the 12 egrets were on, the roost must be west of Jeanette's Creek Road and I suspect it is east of Dashwasher Road (the next Concession to the west) and north of the railroad tracks but probably 100m or so south of the river. If any Ontbirders in that area are intrigued at the challenge of trying to locate this roost, I would be excited to discuss various approaches. A first approach might be to make observations in the area (perhaps from along the railroad tracks) around sunset or a little before in hopes of seeing the egrets returning to their roost.
Please drop me an email if you are interested or if you find it !!! J Cheers, Chip Directions to the boat launch at Jeanette's Creek. From Tilbury go north on Hwy 1; it will end at a "T" with Hwy 36/2 (the Tecumseh Parkway), go right to the Village of Jeanette's Creek, go left on Jeanette's Creek Road and go to the end, which is the boat launch, passing over the set of railroad tracks on the way. _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup
