Date:         Sun, 23 Jul 2000 10:13:46 -0400
Reply-To:     dichurch@earthlink.net
Sender:       Georgia Birders Online <GABO-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Diana Churchill <dichurch@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject:      Harris Neck NWR 7/22/00
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18 Members of Ogeechee & Coastal Audubon joined for an evening field
trip to Harris Neck - midway between Savannah and Brunswick.  Overcast
skies, pleasant temperatures and few bugs were quite welcome!

    Woody Pond was teeming with activity!
         Roseate Spoonbill  (fly by)
         Wood Stork
         Black & Yellow Crowned Night Herons in same scope field
         Green Heron
         Little Blue Heron
         Great Blue Heron
         Great Egret
         Snowy Egret
         Tri Colored Heron
         Glossy Ibis
         White Ibis  (2500 or so with some still feeding nestlings)
         Common Moorhen
         Purple Gallinule with juvenile
         Nesting Bluebirds

     The most unique sighting was a PINK IBIS.  John Stafford spied a
pink bird atop a distant tree which we at first suspected of being
another Roseate Spoonbill.  Not so!
It had ibis bill, black wing tips, but was decidedly pink and not
scarlet.  The note in the Nat'l Geographic Field Guide states that the
Scarlet Ibis does hybridize with the White,
resulting in various shades of scarlet and pink offspring.  Any comments
from the experts out there??

    Elsewhere on the refuge we saw Common Nighthawk, Summer Tanager,
Great Crested Flycatcher, Yellow Throated & Pine Warblers.  Heard many
Eastern Towhees and Painted Buntings calling.  A total of 47 species
were seen and/or heard.

    Quite an enjoyable evening!

    Diana Churchill
    Ogeechee Audubon Society
    dichurch@earthlink.net