We are very excited to launch our very own blog dedicated to the Heron Observation Network!
This blog will be your portal to the colonial wading bird world of Maine! Colonial wading birds include herons (great blue, little blue, and tricolored), egrets (snowy, great, and cattle), night-herons (black-crowned), and ibis (glossy) that nest in groups, or colonies.
This past year, we started a volunteer adopt-a-colony program called the Heron Observation Network, or HERON for short. With the help of volunteers we are continuously increasing our knowledge of where colonial waders are nesting, in what numbers, and how successful they are each year.
This blog is our opportunity to give back to our volunteers and the general public by providing them information relevant to colonial waders, and an opportunity for them to share their “wader-watching” experiences.
A great egret captured and tagged in North Carolina has just landed in Maine at the Scarborough marsh and will probably be breeding on Stratton Island. You can see live data showing where the bird is at this link:
https://www.movebank.org/node/6859
then click ‘show map’.
This bird has been adopted by Nags Head Elementary (In North Carolina), and is named “MsPalma” after their principal, and was captured on March 30th, 2013 at Lake Mattamuskeet in North Carolina.
We have just set up a blog for her, at the link above. If you happen to see her please let us know so we can add your observations to tell our story (either write back to me, or tweet using #MsPalma).
Roland Kays (NC Museum of Natural Science) & John Brzorad (Lenoir-Rhyne University)
Good for you. We look forward to reading about these
magnificent birds and their activities in our State.
Very cool, Danielle….. this will be a very interesting and informative blog not only for your volunteers, but a much wider audience that will be attracted to your blog.
I’ll want to know how it is received from time to time, and I’ll be sure to have a look on a regular basis.
RT