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Quad 30 Bird of the Day Tuesday, June 1st Raymond, Wisconsin   Green Heron Have you ever looked closely at a Green Heron in perfect lighting? After flushing from a wet ditch along a railroad at stop 20 on the Raymond, WI route this morning, a Green Heron landed in some dense tree foliage, but after a few moments, it flew out and perched in full sun on one of the railroad rails. Although it could have been closer (guess this is almost a universal hope), its bright yellow legs certainly grabbed our attention. Looking at it as it stood on one of the rails down an undulating older railroad track was the neatest sight of today's route. Later, we watched a group of 3 Green Herons fly past us at stop 42. I "miss" them more often than not on BBS surveys, and I generally consider them to be uncommon in the areas where I bird most often. Being wetland inhabitants, they are not surveyed adequately by the BBS and is one of a number of species that the Monitoring Committee for the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative will wrestle with on how best to track populations. BBS data for Wisconsin generally show it to be increasing in the eastern half of the state as well as in the Crex Meadows area in northwestern Wisconsin and in the extreme southwest third, while declining in the rest of western Wisconsin. Data from the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas show that there was some evidence of breeding in almost half of the state's quads.   Previous Bird                                     Today's Journal                                           Next Bird