|
Hi Birders,
Brian Everingham's concern for the apparent decline
in Cattle Egrets in the Manning Valley NSW may be partially misplaced. There has
been a decline in the numbers of breeding Cattle Egret in coastal NSW (together
with the other endemic egrets) during the period 1994-1997 however the number of
breeding pairs in coastal colonies increased during the 1998/99 season and this
increase has continued although at this stage the number of breeding pairs has
not returned to the levels of say 1992/93.
However at this time of the year the Egrets are
mostly back at the breeding colonies which are located in respect to the Manning
Valley at Seaham, Shortland & Toronto to the south and Macksville, Grafton
& Lawrence to the north, ie there is no breeding colony in the Manning
Valley so that at this time of the year most of the birds would be
elsewhere!
Alan Morris
NSWFOC Records Officer
| 