I got great views of both immature Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night
Herons during my morning walk around Schoolhouse Pond. The Yellow-crowned
was on the fishing platform when I arrived in the morning (along with 5
egrets), and the Black-crowned was on the boardwalk. It was an excellent
chance to get close looks and compare the juv. plumage of each. 33 Great
Egrets also continue, as well as 6 Great Blues, and 1 Green Heron. Terns
included 2 Caspian Terns and 2 Forster's Terns. Large flocks of Laughing
Gulls continue to drop in and circle around the pond.
Regarding the origin of the Trumpeter Swans, both the Oxbow Lake and
Schoolhouse Pond swans were banded as part of the Wye Marsh, Ontario Re-
introduction program. As they are both banded and tagged and part of the
official Wye Marsh program, they a presumably "pure" Trumpeters.
Trumpeter's have been reproducing in the wild since 1993 in and around Wye
Marsh in Ontario. Its website (with details on the program) can be found
at www.wyemarsh.com . The Schoolhouse Pond Trumpeter has continued at the
pond. At the end of last week, it was joined by a 1st year Mute Swan for
a day, but that bird has appeared to move on.
Fred Shaffer
Patuxent MOS
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