Breeding Great White Egret (1 Viewer)

My last day out before grandchildren arrived in Sumava produced only a couple of GWEs but recently there have been up to 120 or so around Sedlec (CB). My question for the more knowledgeable is 'how many does it take to provide critical mass for a breeding colony?' Some local birders seem to think breeding has not happened here despite presence all summer because you need a whole colony to start at once. In this area this year (edge of Cesky Budejovice) we had newly re=located Spoonbills breeding near a fairly new little Night Heron colony and we've also had a few Little Egrets breeding near by at Zliv, so it seems to be reasonable habitat.
Any answers may be relevant to the former interesting thread on next UK breeding bird, but sadly we don;t seem to have any purple herons on our patch!
den

I would have thought with such large numbers of GWE's you should have breeding. I suspect you will find it difficult to prove though. I would keep an eye of all the local heronry/egret colony sites. Look for recently fledged GWE's with adults. Good luck in your search.

CB

den mather said:

My last day out before grandchildren arrived in Sumava produced only a couple of GWEs but recently there have been up to 120 or so around Sedlec (CB). My question for the more knowledgeable is 'how many does it take to provide critical mass for a breeding colony?' Some local birders seem to think breeding has not happened here despite presence all summer because you need a whole colony to start at once. In this area this year (edge of Cesky Budejovice) we had newly re=located Spoonbills breeding near a fairly new little Night Heron colony and we've also had a few Little Egrets breeding near by at Zliv, so it seems to be reasonable habitat.
Any answers may be relevant to the former interesting thread on next UK breeding bird, but sadly we don;t seem to have any purple herons on our patch!
den

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Your location isn't actually Scotland is it?

I'd assume that if there are substantial colonies of other herons, there'd be no problem for GWE doing so - and I too am slightly confused to see your location given as Scotland!

scary-canary said:

Your location isn't actually Scotland is it?

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John Cantelo said:

....and I too am slightly confused to see your location given as Scotland!

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On his original post Den says the locations are Sedlec and Zliv, areas in the Czech republic I believe.

CB

Cheshire Birder said:

On his original post Den says the locations are Sedlec and Zliv, areas in the Czech republic I believe.

CB

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Probably. But it would be easier if he told us that.

Great White Egret is now common non-breeder to Poland, and in some places there are flocks all summer, but it is breeding only in several places.

I don't know why, but flocks can stay for months for many years, apparently they have both food and suitable breeding area, but show no inclination of nesting. The same in some waters in Germany.

BTW, is this Czech locality close to Polish border? Breeding Spoonbill and Little Egret would be very good species up there!

Many many apologies for misleading location info and thanks to CB for helping out, very sorry to waste peoples time. Can only plead that sorting out 3 newly arrived grandchildren fried old brain cells. My lovely Czech wife bought a farmhouse here 20 years ago and we come every year at least twice although we live in Musselburgh near Edinburgh the rest of the time. Cesky Budejovice, the local metropolis and brewery, is about 2 hours drive south of Prague and is surrounded by huge flat fields with many old lakes and big woods.
As soon as Gchildren go I shall take up the idea of looking much more carefully at the individual GWEs although as said I havent found so many as usual this year. I hadnt thought about a shared colony with other similar birds, so thanks very much for that idea. The other colonies, John, are unfortunately not substantial and it just seemed strange that a few pairs of spoonbills and a few pairs of Little Egrets were nesting surrounded by a much bigger flock of non nesting GWEs.
Jurek, thanks for the info. We have had up to 10 pairs of Spoonbills nesting for the 20 years we have been in Czech rep and they dont always nest in the same place - this year they moved a few ks south from Zliv to the edge of Cesky Bud. - 4 pairs. The few pairs of Little Egrets are more recent ( maybe last 10 years) so I hope you will be lucky in the future (but you already have so many wonderful birds to watch in Hungary!)
Again, sorry for not being clear and thanks for the interesting points.
den