Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!oliveb!oliven!mjm
From: mjm@oliven.olivetti.com (Michael Mammoser)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: range expansions
Keywords: birding, bird-watching
Message-ID: <45982@oliveb.olivetti.com>
Date: 4 Aug 89 01:30:52 GMT
References: <8863@cs.Buffalo.EDU> <390@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> <30845@ism780c.isc.com>
Sender: news@oliveb.olivetti.com
Lines: 22

In article <30845@ism780c.isc.com>, news@ism780c.isc.com (News system) writes:
 > 
 > Cattle egrets are now fairly common in Imperial And San Diego counties of
 > of California.  I heard that they crossed over from Africa on their own.
 > 
 >    Marv Rubinstein

	They appeared in South America near the point where that continent
is closest to Africa and it was speculated that they were storm blown
vagrants. They found a ready-made niche for themselves in the open
agricultural areas of both new-world continents.

	While working on the Santa Clara County Breeding Bird Atlas earlier
this year, I had the opportunity to visit a heron rookery at the south end
of San Francisco Bay. Among the hundreds of Black-Crowned Night Herons,
Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, and a few Little Blue Herons (confirmed as
breeders last year) were a fair number of Cattle Egrets in breeding plumage. 
I returned later in the year looking for recently fledged juveniles, but
had apparently returned too late. Next year I hope to positively confirm
them as breeders in our atlas.

Mike