Hi --

We are seeing quite a few adult and recently-fledged young BC Night-Herons at a local storm-water pond off Sligo Creek Park in Wheaton. This is an annual phenomenon, this year there are even more birds there.

According the the National Zoo's web site, where there is a large colony, the birds arrive at the colony around March 1 and in about 3 months the young are fledged. 

I assume these birds are from the Zoo -- or are there any other local breeding colonies that any atlasers know about? There are no nests at the storm-water pond- the zoo's colony is quite a distance away though probably not a long flight for one of these herons. It would be great if there were other breeding areas but we have not been able to locate any in several years of atlasing.

Interestingly, although the famed Yellow-crowned Night-herons are nesting much closer to these ponds, in fact, in the next atlas block south of ours, we have almost never seen one in our block, either at the ponds or along the stream.

Gail Mackiernan
Colesville, MD