A brief early morning visit to the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens found the
Yellow-cr Night-heron reported yesterday by Warren Strobel still
present, feeding quietly in the middle of the ponds. This is an adult
and easily identifiable. It seemed skittish, so I forbore trying for a
close-up photo.
Several Gr Blue Herons, a Great Egret, and a Green Heron in the same
place nicely rounded out the Ardeid contingent, reminding us that the
annual post-breeding wandering of this family is setting in.
Allow me this reminder - those of us birders who have delighted in the
rarities showing up here and along the Anacostia owe a debt of thanks to
Dick Hammerschlag and his colleagues at the Park Service and PWRC for
making the dream of a restored Anacostia marsh a reality. Bitterns and
rails are now returning but so far only in migration. Ultimate recovery,
as far as avifauna, is now possible but not yet guaranteed.
Fred Fallon
Bowie MD
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