Great Egrets at Horicon Marsh
The Birdfreak Team set out to explore Horicon Marsh in Wisconsin, to see what late July had to offer. We last visited Horicon Marsh on Mother’s Day and were excited to see how much had changed over two months.
There was much more plant growth and we found many prairie and wetland flowers in full bloom, such as this Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium).
We noticed that there were many more Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons this time around, as well as Black-crowned Night-Herons and Green Herons.
Earlier in the week, a Little Blue Heron was discovered, a rare find for Horicon Marsh. A local birder we ran into told us that the Little Blue was seen earlier that morning, but unfortunately, we missed him.
Three of the four Black-crowned Night-Herons we saw along Highway 49
There were many Sandhill Cranes flying around and calling. We spotted a lovely couple on Dike Road, one of the dirt roads that take you into a part of the marsh. Here we also spotted a pair of Northern Harriers and plenty of Double-crested Cormorants.
Sandhill Cranes (above) and Double-crested Cormorant (below)
We also saw quite a few American White Pelicans, and a few Canada Goose. Stay tuned for the “Little Birds” of our Horicon Marsh trip.
American White Pelicans (above) and Great Egrets (below)
Great shots of the “big” birds. I am so impressed over the numbers of egrets you saw at one time. Wow! I’ll be posting in another day or two about my trip to the Northern Calif NWRs from last week. But the only large numbers of one species I saw were the white-faced ibises flying around in flocks. And those were lifers for me. Thanks for sharing.
Marshes are the coolest places for birding!!!
@ Mary – I would love to see large numbers of White-faced Ibises… something about big birds in big numbers that is always amazing!!
@ Daniel – Agreement 100%!
Love the site and pictures! If you’re ever in the Schaumburg, IL area there are currently a flock of over 50 cormorants residing on an island in Busse Woods. Also spotted there were Great Egrets -six of them hanging out in a secluded and marshy area of the lake.
See here for more info:
http://www.paddleaway.com:3000/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7
-Rich
We’ll have to check it out sometime… we don’t get over to that area very often…