Favoritos de mecynogea_palustris

At least a half dozen Egrets appeared to be on eggs. They sat low in their nest. And as many more Egrets flew back and forth delivering nesting materials to their mates who were waiting at the nest.

In April 2021, we counted at least 22 trees with more than 100 nests across two blocks. https://ebird.org/checklist/S88211273. Since then, at least a half dozen trees were cut down to build new houses. More info quantifying nests here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S138243635.

My all time high count of Egrets here was 310 in Jun 2021: https://ebird.org/checklist/S90662715

Today I counted at least 18 nests in just one tree - the tallest tree on Pretty Lake Ave south of the apartments. There are less trees; so it looks like the remaining trees have more nests than prior years.

I first discovered Great Egrets nesting here in 2017 (7 years ago).

There is an even larger rookery on a small island south of Knotts Island: https://ebird.org/atlasnc/checklist/S106202914

I found what I think/thought was a little dirt dobber or wasp "dwelling". Inside there were, what seemed to be many, maybe 20-ish (I don't think that would be an exaggeration) little bodies that I did not believe to be any form of flying insect, it looked like spiders to me, with their many legs. I used a pair of tweezers to pull one out and confirmed them to be spiders. I've never known spiders to be communal, but with as many are in this abode, that's what it made me think they were/are. When I took the one out to take photos, there was a web silk that came from it. It makes me think they are alive, though there wasn't movement. The only movement I KNOW of would be their legs at the opening at some point.

I didn’t know what this spider was when I photographed it. When I got home and identified it as Hyptiotes cavatus, I got excited because I’ve read about these Triangle Weavers, with their partial orb-web and unique prey-capture technique, but had never seen one. This was a lifer! And, it is the first species I’ve found from the Uloboridae spider family! Now I want to go find more and get some really good pictures, including the triangle part of their web.