Wing-tagged Great Egret at Bombay Hook

On a recent visit to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, my friends and I spotted a wing-tagged Great Egret foraging near the road. This is the second wing-tagged egret I have seen in the past few months! The first wing-tagged egret I saw was a flyby bird at the Avalon Seawatch in New Jersey on October 21st. These birds are part of a study that was done in Ontario by Environment Canada. Fifty young Great Blue Herons and over 100 young Great Egrets from three sites in Lake Huron were marked with Green or Orange wing-tags during this past breeding season; each tag carries a unique number-letter combination. The bird I saw at the seawatch was too distant to tell what the code was on the tag, but the Bombay Hook bird provided up-close looks which allowed us to see that its code was ’22K’.

Wing-tagged Great Egret '22K' at Bombay Hook NWR, Delaware (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

Wing-tagged Great Egret '22K' at Bombay Hook NWR, Delaware (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

Birders are asked to watch for these birds and send details of any sightings (date, time, location, observer, color of tag and number-letter combination) to chip.weseloh@ec.gc.ca. Below is a map showing where ’22K’ was tagged (Nottawasaga Island near Collingwood, Ontario in southern Georgian Bay, Lake Huron) and where I resighted it at Bombay Hook NWR in Delaware.

This maps shows where '22K' was tagged on Nottawasaga Island near Collingwood, Ontario in southern Georgian Bay, Lake Huron and where I resighted the bird at Bombay Hook NWR in Delaware.