(WHTM) — A three-acre Susquehanna River island shelters some of Pennsylvania’s most threatened bird species.
Wade Island, a part of the Sheets Island Archipelago near Harrisburg, is home to the state’s largest nesting colony of black-crowned night herons and great egrets. The Pennsylvania Game Commission lists both species as state-endangered because of population decline.
“What brings these colony nesting birds to Wade Island isn’t clear,” the Game Commission said in an informational pamphlet on the species. “Perhaps it is good food resources in the Susquehanna River or its proximity to the Chesapeake Bay. Whatever the reason, no other place in the state comes close when comparing the number of nesting sites of these magnificent birds.”…