In answer to Anne's question, we don't believe so. Great Egrets nest in
trees along the Hanford Reach near where you saw them near Franklin/Grant
counties.

The Great Egrets that nest in the Potholes area also pass through the
Tri-Cities but usually a little later.

For those of you who are interested, here's a reply from USFWS Supervisory
Wildlife Biologist Howard Browers on the ones Wilson mentioned that were at
the southern edge of Benton county in the WA part of the Umatilla National
Wildlife Refuge.

"This is the Sand Island colony which is on the (Umatilla) refuge in Benton
County. There have always been Great Blue Herons and Black-crowned Night-
Herons nesting there. I started seeing a few Great Egrets there in the
summer a few years ago - I suspected they were nesting but never verified it
myself. Sounds like they are definitely nesting."

Bill and Nancy LaFramboise
Richland WA


-----Original Message-----
From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of annejim
kahle
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 1:42 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Benton, Franklin, Grant Great Egrets

Yesterday I had a half a dozen or so Great Egrets in the vicinity of the
boat ramp on the Columbia River at the boundary of Franklin and Grant
Counties, with another couple across the river in Benton Co. Do you suppose

these are same ones that were seen at Umatilla recently?
Anne Kahle


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