Five days ago there were a lot of birds at the beach, perhaps getting ready for Tropical Storm Hermine… I had some fun trying to identify the different stages of life of the laughing gulls…
We had a few gusts of wind which ruffled some feathers…
I wondered if the cormorants would be staying out on their island during the storm…
The baby great black-backed gull wondered if we would be handing out a french fry. Tim had unintentionally dropped one recently, renewing hopes for some of the younger birds…
My friend knows better — he’s content to visit with us. 🙂
We also saw a great egret — they don’t often come this close, preferring their island in the middle of one of the salt ponds.
The swan’s pond has mostly dried up due to the drought…
Sharing the estuary by the sea wall, we were amazed to see eight snowy egrets feeding with the great egret, the swan and a flock of Canada geese!
The calm before the storm… Hermine gave us mostly gale force winds and drizzle. Several branches and many leaves and twigs came off the trees, but no trees were uprooted in our vicinity. That was more than enough excitement for us!
Love the white egrets. Pretty rare here. Glad your brush with the storm was minor. I appreciate the gull identification.
I don’t remember when great egrets started showing up here – I never noticed them years ago when my kids were small. But this is the first summer I’ve seen snowy egrets.
That egret has one long neck! It should be easy for it to catch fish.
It’s fun to watch them fishing in the salt marsh or estuary. Usually they keep their necks in a gentle “S” shape.
Glad you guys were not hit hard by the storm, we are still feeling its effect here on the Gulf coast. Beautiful birds! I like the swan and snowy egret picture in particular.
Thank you, Tiny! It’s unusual here to see so many different birds together in the same spot, although that’s the normal state of affairs in your salt marsh. It does seem like the Gulf coast bore the brunt of Hermine. I wish you guys got a little less rain and we got a little more of it. 🙂
I am so glad you didn’t have too much trouble from the storm, and that your friend with the mangled foot is still visiting. 🙂 I saw a great gathering of egrets (Great, Snowy, and the little Cattle Egrets) along with some Glossy Ibis, and gulls. It was amazing.
That must have been so thrilling, Robin! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cattle egret before. There are so many shorebirds I have yet to see – it seems the farther south ones go the more varieties there are. The picture you posted was amazing!
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