Cattle Egret

We finally got out of the house to see the Cattle Egret.

It was located, without much effort, with the cows at 8^th Concession and Hazen just before sundown.  That is north and west of the village of Walsingham, which is on Highway #59.

According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/cattle_egret/id), the Cattle Egret is originally from Africa and found its way to North America in 1953 and quickly spread across the continent.

You’ll find it in fields, not streams, where it eats insects and small animals.

Most spend their winters in the southern United States where the temperature rarely falls below 5 degrees Celsius. Some find their way to more northern coastal areas where winters are mild. Their North American range is still expanding.

On the way home, we headed west along Lakeshore where we picked up fifty or so Sandhill Cranes on the north side before Port Royal, another 30 on the south side just west of Port Royal.   One individual was grazing at Lee  Browns.

Tundra Swans are moving around town and Northern Saw-whet Owl Banding continues at the Long Point  Bird Observatory Old Cut Banding. Station. (See www.birdscanada.org/lpbo)
    
Banding closes for the season on November 15th


Northern Saw-whet being banded October 30th at Old Cut.