ML156426831

Detalles de la observación

NOTE: Sorry to Rob and Heather who were looking for bittern. We got the first one just after you left calling down near the South blind. That was one. Then something amazing happened. I have a feeling this will be the high count for the area so I am adding extra details. Tom Kerr showed up with his friend just as it was about to get dark and 7 (yes seven!) went airborne. First one, then it circled the marsh near heritage boardwalk and others came up out of the marsh and started joining it in a loose flock. They all circled over head for a bit and then flew off together to the West. Right at dusk. Insane. The group was rather loose. With my photos I have 4 in one grouping and 3 in another. Striping on underside and dark underwing pattern was clear to us on all birds. Poor pics with bad settings after sunset. But much better looks through binoculars by all four of us. (me Shelley, Tom Kerr, and his birder friend from out of state). We didn't count the first one in case it was one of the seven that went airborne later. We also observed a straggler take off a bit later but I thought it was too dark to 100% confirm ID for the count for that bird. But I am almost certain it was an 8th American Bittern. This count was no doubt alarmingly high. But I believe this was a fallout of bittern due to the still partially frozen Lake Erie and the high waters along the shore that have drowned out the other nearby marshes such as Times beach. So everything kind of funneled to Tifft. About two weeks prior I had a count of four(4) American Bittern in the marsh with excellent visual and audio confirmation. That list is here: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S55263702 The high count ever for USA is 300 in airborne flocks of 10-15 birds, which can be found here: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48658169