Fantastic as always. Thanks Jim!
Great egrets stalking prey and puddle ducks dabbling for dinner
Submitted by JIM NIGRO on September 27, 2012 - 9:45am
It could be they were staging for an autumn migration, but whatever the reason, upwards of three dozen great egrets had gathered in one area of the Tonawanda Wildlife Management Area last Friday.
The egrets took a liking to this narrow strip of water, all but hidden by a large expanse of cattails. At a distance, the egrets are barely discernable, appearing as tiny white dots on the water in the middle of the photo.
Evidently the location teemed with one or both of the egret's favorite food sources - small fish and frogs.
Judging from the movement of the large wading birds...
it would seem there was an ample supply of food in all directions.
Not far away, east of Route 77, dabbling ducks were having a feast of their own in Mohawk Pool on the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge. Mallards, pintails, green- and blue-winged teal, and widgeon were on hand for an aquatic feed.
The food supply must have been both tasty and plentiful because the ducks seemed more intent on eating than breathing - no matter where you looked, the ducks' heads were submerged..........that little fella on the right was one of the few exceptions (maybe he was full).
It was a good morning, the next to last day of summer and capped off with this egret on the fly.
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September 27, 2012 - 10:59am
#3
September 27, 2012 - 1:42pm
#4
As always, a great post, Jim.
September 27, 2012 - 6:43pm
#5
Jim,
The egrets have been there all summer, we see upwards of 20 at a time, beautiful! Lots of herons too!
September 27, 2012 - 7:11pm
#6
Great pictures and narratives as always Jim. Check your email.
September 27, 2012 - 7:40pm
#7
Jason & Doug, thank you both!
September 27, 2012 - 7:53pm
#8
Anne, I had seen the egrets only sporadically over the summer, and usually in small numbers on Upper Stafford Marsh on the Oak Orchard WMA. This past Monday morning I was walking the berms on Oak Orchard south of the S turns when I stopped to check out a massive stick nest high up in a dead tree. If I hadn't stopped to look at the nest I would have missed the Great Egrets passing overhead. Other than heading in the same direction, there was no sync in their flight - it was probably a minute or more before the entire group passed by. They were flying northwest, probably back to the area where you have been seeing them.
September 27, 2012 - 7:57pm
#9
Thanks Ange.... soon you will be Colorado bound......See you when you get back!
September 27, 2012 - 10:45pm
#10
I believe if you click on the tag on this post for "outdoors" you can get an RSS feed of that tag. It should auto-generate if you feed the URL into your RSS reader.
Is there a way to get Jim's blog as an RSS feed??