There is a large natural pond near the entrance to my neighborhood, with a small island in the middle. At dusk, all the local egrets head there to roost over night. During the day you'll see a few around, but at sundown, it's COVERED! It's the perfect place to sleep, where the raccoons and other predators can't get to them easily.
Last Fall, a bad tropical storm knocked down a lot of the trees, and presumably destroyed a LOT of nests. We noticed far fewer evening residents after that. I was hoping the situation would reverse when the Spring nesting season started, and they would all build new nests, and that seems to be what happened. The population seems to have returned.
The local egrets have probably been living on that little island since long before any humans lived here. One little storm isn't going to chase them off.
3 Comments
Okokimup@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1d
There's a dark bird in the bottom right quadrant. I'm guessing anhinga? Osprey maybe?
Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 1d
I’d guess either anhinga or cormorant before osprey, but it’s going to take a better birder than me to say for sure
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 14h
There is a large natural pond near the entrance to my neighborhood, with a small island in the middle. At dusk, all the local egrets head there to roost over night. During the day you'll see a few around, but at sundown, it's COVERED! It's the perfect place to sleep, where the raccoons and other predators can't get to them easily.
Last Fall, a bad tropical storm knocked down a lot of the trees, and presumably destroyed a LOT of nests. We noticed far fewer evening residents after that. I was hoping the situation would reverse when the Spring nesting season started, and they would all build new nests, and that seems to be what happened. The population seems to have returned.
The local egrets have probably been living on that little island since long before any humans lived here. One little storm isn't going to chase them off.