December 22, 2024 9:37 pm
The great EGRET: the white heron
Pondering
There is a certain amount of grace that big birds exude as they go about their daily lives.
I was watching this great egret fly so effortlessly over the northern shoreline of Lake Ontario, between the Credit river in south Mississauga to the estuary of the Humber river at the Humber bay area of Toronto.
It was perfect timing for me as I drove eastward from Burlington bay along the eastbound Lakeshore Blvd., toward Toronto.
Several times the egret would skip out of view and alight momentarily to investigate potential feeding locations.
I was able to park at most of the locations it stopped at, only to find it had taken flight again.
Mississauga, Mimico, Colonel Samuel Smith park, Etobicoke, Humber Bay estuary and then finally settling onto the catchment pond at where the Gardner Expressway and Lakeshore Blvd. join.
It never felt like a chase, more like follow the leader!
Afterall I was driving and had to have the mindset of carefully doing so.
If it had not stopped at the catchment pond I would have just photographed swans at Sunnyside park or at Grenadier pond in High Park.
Joy for me though, as I do not see the egret as often as I would like!
strike and missed
From a distance, the Great Egret may look very similar to Storks – if in Florida, where Storks make a regional home.
However, in Canada they are a very rare find. Egrets are much smaller and have an all-white plumage.
After watching this great egret fish for over an hour, and each strike came with an empty beak, I felt some concern.
It looked healthy, moved with stealth and grace, but missed at every strike!
missed another one
I watched about eight strikes … failing at each attempt.
I guess we all have off-days from time to time!
Under my breath I would whisper ‘Better luck next time‘.
That did not seem to help either… we tried!
i’ll come back another day
Eventually after wading around the pond’s perimeter gracefully like a waiter, the egret decided that better hunting grounds could be found elsewhere.
I hope so…
Come back again soon, I have to say, it has been a delight to see ya, and i’m sure that it would be better next time.
Great Egret -Happy hunting!
OneForTheDay by Nats.
Nats, a photographer, writer, and contributing editor for natwild.com and the OneForTheDay blog, is reachable through this site. Feel free to log in, subscribe, and leave comments.
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