The Audubon Societies 



255 



EXPLORING FOR NEW BIRD COLONIES 



By T. GILBERT PEARSON 



Illustrated with Photographs by the Author 



Our success of recent years in guarding 

 colonies of Egrets and other rare birds in 

 the southern states, coupled with the 

 alarming decrease of these birds in regions 

 where we have not employed wardens, 

 warrants the Association in making more 

 extended efforts in behalf of these perse- 

 cuted species. The desirability of locating 

 other colonies of birds and making a sur- 

 vey of the general situation in some of the 

 new or little-known regions, led the Sec- 

 retary the past year to undertake explora- 

 tions in some of the southern states. 



On May 4, 1920, in company with H. H. 

 Brimley, an inspection was made of the 

 'Crane Neck' Heron colony on Orton Pond, 

 Brunswick County, North Carolina. We 

 had visited this interesting place in the 

 intervals ever since first discovering the 

 colony one June day twenty-two years 

 ago, and it was painful to note that the pas- 

 sage of the years has played sad havoc with 

 the Herons of this region. Representatives 

 of all the birds formerly frequenting this 



special group of cypress trees were present, 

 but four of the species, viz., the Little Blue 

 Heron, Louisiana Heron, Black-crowned 

 Night Heron, and Snowy Egret had collec- 

 tively shrunk from at least 2,000 to not 

 more than 150 individuals. The two re- 

 maining species, however, appear to have 

 held their own in numbers. In fact, we 

 thought them more numerous than they 

 were ten years ago. The nests of these 

 large birds were in tall cypresses and so 

 located that we were unable to devise any 

 means of accurately determining their 

 numbers. However, after much time 

 passed in counting nests and seeking to 

 avoid duplications, we at length estimated 

 the colony to contain about seventy-five 

 occupied nests of the Egret {egretta), and 

 one hundred nests of the Great Blue Heron. 

 Since my first visit in 1898, two other 

 flourishing colonies of Herons in the neigh- 

 borhood, both of which contained Egrets, 

 have ceased to exist. The Crane Neck, 

 with one exception, is today the colony 



LOOKING UPWARD IN THE ORTON HERON ROOKERY. IN SIGHT ARE TWO EGRET 

 NESTS AND FOUR NESTS OF THE GREAT BLUE HERON 



