September 6
Good Morning
Connor and I had another exciting birding day yesterday.
Our friend, Percy alerted us to a rare bird sighting of a Cattle Egret north-east of Edmonton. Cattle Egrets are found all over the world but tend to stay closer to the equator. They are called Cattle Egrets because they hang around cattle and other large mammals and are often perched on their backs. They wait for the animal to kick up the dirt and flush insects, frogs or what ever happens to look tasty. So we left home after Connor’s bass lesson and headed to Whitford Lake.
We were fortunate that when we arrived in the area that there was another person already there. We asked him if he had seen the egret and he gave us the reply we often get. “ You just missed it. It was close to here but just flew off into the middle of the field.” He told us where to look and we got out our binoculars and scope and we could see a small white rock about 1/2 a kilometer away that appeared to be moving. So we waited awhile but it seemed to be content where it was. As we headed out, we met a couple from Fort McMurray who had come down to see the bird so we shared the location with them.
We went looking for other birds and were entertained by a peregrine falcon that came in and swooped up a shorebird. We decided to check out the spot again before heading home. When we returned, the Fort Mac couple where still there parked at the far end of the road so we decided to wait since they must be watching it. We stayed where we were because there was large deep puddle across the road and it was tricky getting through it earlier.. We were rewarded about ten minutes later when the egret took off from the distant spot, flew a wide arc beside the road and landed next to a cow about 50 meters away. We moved down the fence line and got even closer. We got some wonderful shots and shared high fives.
We noticed the Fort Mac couple driving towards us while the egret was flying but they stopped about half way back. After about 15 minutes they came up beside us. I commented that I had a picture of the egret flying beside their SUV and asked if they had got any good shots. They hadn’t seen it fly as they where following a goshawk. So we stayed around a little longer and showed them where it was. We said to them “ You just missed it. It was in the middle of the field but now it is right here beside us!”.
I think what makes these kind of days the most exciting for me is sharing them with Connor. His enthusiasm and excitement just keeps me smiling the whole time we are out. Well, maybe most of the time we are out.
He has a great friend, Noah, who lives in Colorado and shares his passion for nature and is a superb photographer. They swap their stories with each other regularly via the internet and encourage each other.
So here are some cattle egrets from around the world starting with our most recent.
Stay well
