Green Heron

[kastern]

Took advantage of some cloud cover this morning and headed out on the water with the canoe. Water level is dropping so rapidly that we won't be able to do it too much longer. Were rewarded for our efforts by spotting a Green Heron ;D ;D....it was up the Chehalis, just where it takes a bend heading towards the Morris Valley Road. The pictures I got weren't great but enough to prove it was there - the first I've seen in the area although my daughter reported seeing one a number of years ago.

Here is the list of other things we saw:

Hooded Merganser - 4 - all juveniles
Wood Duck - 2 in Eclispe plumage
Common Merganser - 12 - all females, no ducklings
Mallards - had to be at least 100 - most hidden in the grass until spooked.
Can. Geese - a couple of hundred at least
Bald Eagle - 1 adult
Heron - at least a dozen, they were everywhere
Green Heron -***1
Barn Swallows - 6 or 8 by Eagle Point Park
Tree Swallows - 3 - noticable by their absence after being the commonest bird for the past while
Northern Rough Wing Swallows - 18 came upon a 'nursery tree' with a lot of fledglings.
Hairy Woodpecker - 2
Song Sparrows - at least 6
Swainson's Thrush - down bathing in the Chehalis
Spotted Sandpiper - at least a dozen, most in the area of either Eagle Point or over by the Chehalis
White Crowned Sparrow - bathing at Eagle Point - this particular individual was pretty ratty - no tail feathers.
Red Wing Blackbirds - at least 20, appeared to be all males
Common Yellow Throat - heard a few by Eagle Point, less than there has been.
Marsh Wren - heard 3, again seems less than the last trip.
Pied Billed Grebe - heard a couple, couldn't spot any
Robins - 2
North West Crow - at least 6, more and more vocal than there has been.
Belted Kingfisher - 1
Snipe - saw 3



Green Heron - view 1



Green Heron - view 2



Juvenile Hooded Merganser

Kathy

[Gord]

Nice report and pictures as always!

Id say that green heron is this year's young which would indicate breeding close by. They used to breed well at Cheam Lake (One morning I counted 7 green herons from one area, two sucessful nests was my guess!) but been scarce the last couple years.

The family of mergansers would also be a great breeding record to accompany the first Ive known of (again at Cheam Lake by John Vooys) two summers ago. Hooded mergansers are not at all common nesting on the coast. I dont know this species well in regards to juveniles, but it doesnt look like a female in moult to me so I agree! Nice birds!

[kastern]

Re the possible breeding record of Hooded Merganser - this is the second year in a row we have seen young Hooded Merganser in the area. Here is a picture I took last year of what we figured was a young Hoodie - you can see that it is even younger than the one in the picture - this is if I've got the ID right. Thing is - for what it's worth - we haven't seen any adults.



Kathy

[Gord]

I think that may be a young wood duck hen but ducks can be difficult to ID at this age.
The bill looks a bit blunt and short for a merganser? Still, the hoodie picture above sure has a juvenile look to it (darker eye, lots of yellow/orange in bill). I wish I had more experience to add more.