Great White

Meet Ardea alba – the Great Egret.  This rare visitor typically pays a call in May or August.  It showed-up a week ago and has already vamoosed as it continues its journey south for the winter.

An entirely white bird - they are a tall wading species with long black legs and a yellow-orange, dagger-like bill. These birds are found in both salt water and fresh water habitats and build their stick nest high in trees.  They live in colonies and prefer island-living so as to be safe from predators like raccoons.  This bird doesn’t nest here as I believe we are pushing the furthest extent of their breeding range.  Besides, we have no islands. 

I suppose this is a good location for a pit stop.  We've been content to glass the critter from a distance with the binoculars. Standing still for a period of time it would suddenly thrust its bill into the shallows.  One less frog in the mix so it seems.