Yesterday evening I made another visit to the nocturnal wader roost in the water treatment plant on Monticello, on the Orleans-Jefferson Parish line between River Road and Jefferson Highway.
It has grown substantially, now that the nesting season is over for these species, allowing them to leave their colonies and appear in places like this roost.
The tally at dusk:
700 White Ibis (almost all adult, but some immatures may have escaped detection since they are darker- I did see ten fly in)
5 Snowy Egret
5 Cattle Egret
5 Great Egret
3 Anhinga
no spoonbills!
An adult Black-crowned Night-Heron was perched on a cement wall (unlike the wader roost, which is in a copse of willows)
There were scores of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks flying about calling.
I was surprised to see Wood Ducks also flying in at nightfall in small flocks- I counted 40 birds coming in, but am not sure how many came in before I arrived (Wood Ducks can be told in flight from the other resident species by their smaller size and proportionally longer tails).
In the failing light, I could also make out 4 Black-necked Stilts, and 6 "peeps" (small shorebirds) that were most likely Least Sandpipers.
Quite a crowd of birds!
Peter
for a copy of Birding Made Easy-New Orleans, email me at birding.made.easy.new.orleans@gmail.com, or look for it at the Maple Street or Garden District Book Shops.
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