Greetings!

The time has come to head out and look up at nests of Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, and Double-crested Cormorants.....so I'm looking to see who else wants to go out!

Date: Tuesday 9 June 09

Time and Place: Meet at the office at 8 am, or at the lower I-90 landing (on the MN side, south of the rest area) around 8:30

This will be an all day event, plan to be out till 3/330
If you are meeting us out there, let me know your life jacket size as we need to boat out there.
You are also welcome to boat yourself out to the site.

Details: Looking for 3-6 more people to go out and walk the island where the colony is, to look up and see how many young are in a nest (by species). You need not know the birds, but you will by the end of the day. This requires alot of looking up (so neck tilted back), walking on an island (uneven ground), walking through nettle and poison ivy, watching for white wash, and enjoying a good day of bird watching! We do walk a decent distance, but it is slow paced as you are looking at every tree to see if there are nests.

We are needing eyes to help see from different angles and data recorders (1 per group). It is best to work in groups of 3 to look at the nest from all over, and one person is the data recorder.

Items to Bring:

long pants and shirt (you could do short sleeves, but the long sleeves help with bugs, nettle, and ivy)
brimmed hat
bug spray (though I'm sure we'll have a bottle of something)
lunch and water (we usually boat down a ways to get fresh air that moves the bugs - no tuna!)
binoculars (though we have some to borrow if you don't any)
knee/hip boots: merely to deal with the nettle, not necessary but helps

Please let me know by noon on Monday 8 June if you are available.

Thanks!

Jess

Jessica Larson
Wildlife Biologist
U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Upper Mississippi River NW&FR
LaCrosse District
555 Lester Avenue
Onalaska, WI 54650

608-783-8406 (office)
608-780-8306 (cell)
608-783-8452 (fax)