The cattle-egret chicks just hatched, and there are thousands of them. They look suprisingly well, for now. We did find a tiny nestling yesterday who fell to the ground during the morning storm. Sadly, he survived only a few hours.
The great-egret fledgings are 4-5-weeks old. The younger ones cannot yet fly, and some are falling from the nests. About 7 died during the long weekend.
Since water is plentiful, we do not need to clean and refill any troughs this year. What we do need, however, is for people to commit to one tour of the rookery per week or one a trip to Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center per week. Please write to me and let me know your availability for:
- Patrolling the rookery (day of the week, approximate time).
- Making a delivery to Rogers (day of the week, approximate time).
If each one of us commits to a day for one or these tasks, the work load will be relatively light on all of us, and the birds will be helped. Feel free to coordinate with others in the group. I will get back to all of you with possible assignments.