A small group of four met at the causeway as usual, but unusually compared to most walks, at 1:00pm. We were lucky with the lovely weather, as the following days were quite the opposite with many showers.
To begin with, we didn’t have to move to get a good view of some of the herons present. From the causeway, there were three nests, one unoccupied and the other two occupied with adult Herons sitting comfortably on them. A few minutes later, one of the adults got up and it looked like it was tending to chicks, although we could not see any chicks from our viewpoint due to the height of the nest. Shortly later, the Herons were joined by two Little Egrets that landed in adjacent trees.
After a while we moved on to the heron viewpoint. As the name suggests, there were plenty of herons to view. There were four nests, all of which occupied by adults and we got fantastic clear views of all four of these nests. Thanks to Nilesh Dodhia, we also had the livestream of the heron cam on a laptop on a small table running whilst we were viewing the herons with the ‘scope and our binoculars. From the livestream, we think we were able to identify which nest the camera looked over, with some help from the twelve Little Egrets also among the herons, which all seemed to be insistent on being in the same tree as the nest on the livestream. Most of the egrets were a little further back than the herons and so we could not tell whether there were any little egret nests. A little later, a few of the adult herons were joined by their mates, who were observed flying back and forth, likely providing food for the chicks or coming with more nest material. We remained here for a long period of time and many people walking by also got to the opportunity to look at the livestream and the herons and egrets. After a while, Nilesh unfortunately had to leave, and we decided that it was also time to move on to see if we could get any different views from other points around the lake.
From the other hides there didn’t seem to be any additional nests, only different angles of the nests in the main heronry. Later on as the three of us headed towards the fields, we got a behind view of what we think was the nest overlooked by the camera. I was lucky enough to get a brief view of the top of a chicks head with the ‘scope, but sadly the chick didn’t feel like popping again for the others to view. By the time we got to fort drew, the sun was out and very bright, limiting the views of the nests from the causeway a little closer than before. However to conclude the walk, we observed a male flying over carrying nest material and eventually landing on one of the nests opposite us.
In total at least twelve Herons were seen and thirteen Little Egrets were observed. Soon enough, if they haven’t already started, the Little Egrets will start to make their nests and breed as we move further into Spring.
In addition to the many Herons and Egrets, there were other birds and interesting behaviours observed. Towards the beginning of the walk we saw a pair of Wigeon, likely the last remaining pair here as they look to be heading back to their summer, northern breeding grounds. By kingfisher hide, we observed a pair of Black-headed Gulls mating and observed a brief but magnificent courtship dance from a pair of Great Crested Grebes. We also saw a pair of Swans, with the female sleeping on a nest, hidden from the rest of the lakes occupants in the flooded woodland. Hopefully, we can expect some cygnets further into spring. On the west side of the lake, we got a good view of a single Greenfinch and were lucky enough to get great views of a female Goosander. This may very well have been the same female seen a week prior and if so, this will be the second individual Goosander seen here this year. Along the walk there were many singing Chiffchaffs that were seen and plenty of raptors, with up to 6 Red Kites, 3 Buzzards and a very distant Kestrel being seen. Finally by Fort Drew, we were able to locate the two flamboyant male Red-Crested Pochards that have been here for a few weeks. As usual they were doing the best to not be seen and it very nearly worked!
Shaan Purohit