I accompanied Evan McKinney with USACE out to Shippingport Island this morning
for an annual check of the heronry there. We were a bit later this year than
usual, so there were mostly large young in nests, and leaf cover made an
accurate count of nests impossible.
Today's highlight was the presence of at *four* active Cattle Egret nests mixed
in with several Great Egret nests. Cattle Egrets nested on Shippingport Island
1984-1988, but abandoned the site when the Black-crowneds moved out for unknown
reasons. All four nests appeared to be occupied with at least a couple of birds
seemingly incubating. It is really interesting that these birds have gone
essentially undetected in the Louisville area this year, although a check of
eBird showed that Rob Lane saw a single bird foraging over on the Indiana side
of the river in Clarksville on May 18th. When the birds were nesting there in
the 1980s, they seemed to be heading out mostly to the open farmland of Floyd
County, Indiana, and they may be doing that again, eluding most opportunities
to see them.
We also saw at least four nests of Double-crested Cormorants all containing
large young. I thought we might find more Great Egret nests this year, but
really confirmed less than 10. And, of course, there are plenty of
Black-crowned Night-Herons present. Later today I'll get some so-so pics of the
nesting birds loaded onto the eBird checklist.
On my way home I stopped in briefly at the Melco Flood Retention Basin and had
4 Spotted Sandpipers in addition to at least 60 Killdeer and 30 Great Egrets.
The water is starting to disappear there, but should last a week or two unless
it rains much again.
bpb, Louisville
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