Sunday, September 14, 2014

Tagged Great Egret

Tagged Great Egret (Grande Aigrette) 
Waterloo, ON
12 September 2014

     As I mentioned in a recent post Great Egrets Ardea alba begin their annual appearance in this area as post breeding dispersal occurs, with some birds even moving north from their more southerly breeding locations.
     This bird was seen on 12 September in Waterloo and was in the same location yesterday. I am attempting to find out where it originated, but so far I am having no luck. As soon as I am able to determine where it was tagged I will add a line to this post.

 Note added: This bird was banded at Nottawasaga Island near Collingwood, ON on 19 June 2014.


     As might be expected juvenile birds abound at this time of the year and this young House Sparrow Passer domesticus clearly shows its gape.



     Cedar Waxwings Bombycilla cedrorum have been plentiful of late with large flocks of juveniles roaming together.


     Like all children, there needs to be the odd adult to supervise!


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David M. Gascoigne,
David M. Gascoigne,

I'm a life long birder. My interests are birds, nature, reading, books, outdoors, travel, food and wine.

5 comments:

  1. Richard Pegler14 September 2014 at 10:58

    Hi David. It's great to see your images of juvenile Waxwings. I think I may have struggled with the I.D. otherwise. I don't suppose I'll ever see one in the flesh as we only get the Bohemian Waxwings in the winter (sometimes!), and the Cedar Waxwing is exceedingly rare indeed!

    I have mixed feelings about the ringing (banding) of birds, but I hate to see birds with large prominent wing tags. I can see that it aids identification where a bird cannot be approached for whatever reason - but a Great Egret??? It's an abomination!

    I'm back home after a great vacation and will be trying to catch up with Bloggerland and whatever you've posted whilst I was away, between sorting out fossils and trying to make sense of my camera images!

    Best regards to you both - Richard

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David M. Gascoigne,14 September 2014 at 12:27

      You know, Richard, I am inclined to agree with you. My ambivalence about banding is rapidly developing into a downright dislike. There are obviously situations where the offspring of endangered species can be tracked and monitored, which are valid, but the random banding of everything that happens to fly into the mist net seems like overkill to me. As for the wing tags I agree 100%. For the past couple of years I have been involved in a monitoring plan for Great Egrets for the Canadian Wildlife Service, but the tags cause me no joy. I console myself by telling myself that they are going to attach these tags whether I report them or not, but that's flawed logic I know. In any event WELCOME HOME!

      Delete
  2. Bob Bushell14 September 2014 at 11:11

    Lovely birds, excellent photos.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Linda14 September 2014 at 13:31

    Beautiful photos! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Irma15 September 2014 at 03:47

    Hello David,
    Beautiful photos of the sparrows and waxwings.
    The blue number on the great egret I hate.
    This can not, why do they do it this way.
    I wish you a very good new week.
    Best regards, Irma

    ReplyDelete

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