Egrets in Kansas in Trouble

Many parts of the country are having a dry spell--Minnesota included. We finally got some rain yesterday but when I was out in some agricultural fields before the storm yesterday, all the birds were congregating around those big water sprayers (I'm not a farm girl, I don't know the term for them--what are they irrigation systems?). That's where I saw most of the shrikes and kestrels and large flocks of blackbirds.

Kansas is having quite a problem right now too. Here's a story from the Hutchinson News and good reminder to all of us who are in areas with little to no rain to put out some extra water:

Egrets were dying of thirst Wednesday afternoon in Hutchinson, while others panted and wobbled in the heat at East Avenue C and Severance.

City of Hutchinson workers erected snow fence Tuesday to corral the birds after numerous egrets were hit by vehicles traveling in the area.

The two-sided fence covered half a city block, but the long-legged, white migratory birds - panting in the 104-degree heat - acted as if they were trapped.

Drivers swerved to avoid hitting throngs of birds, which scrounged the neighborhood near the Hutchinson Correctional Facility in desperate attempts to find water. Many of the egrets nested in the trees at the corner of C and Severance.

You can read the rest of the story here. I like how towards the end of the article it tells how Walmart donated a whole $25 dollars for a wading pool for the egrets. Normally, I don't like to criticize a business for its donation, since everybody hits up businesses for donations and every little bit counts, but c'mon. You can't tell me that Walmart couldn't donate some actual pools? A donation that small from a company that size just looks cheap--especially since many people have a negative view of how Walmart takes over great wildlife habitat.