[TN-Bird] early Black-crowned Night-Heron fledgling
- From: Scott Somershoe <Scott.Somershoe@xxxxxx>
- To: TN-Birds <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Birds, Bristol" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 12:48:08 +0000
On Tues, May 22, I was surveying a large rookery on Watts Bar Lake, Rhea Co. a
few miles east of Spring City in the vicinity of the Fooshee Peninsula. It is
a large rookery with 6 species of waders seen including Great Blue, Great
Egret, Cattle Egret, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Double-crested Cormorant, and
Green Heron (one lone bird flying into the rookery).
There were at least 13 adult black-crowned night-herons hanging out, some
incubating, some just standing guard, but we saw one bird that I initially
assumed was an immature plumage bird from last year. I soon realized it was a
fledgling, which is very early. The earliest date for fledglings in the
Breeding Chronology of Tennessee Birds is 17 June. I'm pretty sure I had early
June fledglings in Nashville a couple years ago as well (I need to dig out my
records). Regardless, this is a really early bird and very expected for that
species.
http://tnbirds.org/breeding_dates.html
We watched the bird for a couple minutes and there was no question it was a
young bird of the year. No picts as it was rain and then pouring on us. Good
day in the field!
Good birding,
Scott Somershoe
State Ornithologist
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
P.O. Box 40747
Nashville, TN 37204
615-781-6653 (office)
615-781-6654 (fax)
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