This is a sight we’ve seen at Ding a couple of times. Previously, it was near the end of Wildlife Drive in a small creek, or maybe it is called a bayou? This time, there were literally hundreds of birds in the same type of setting about halfway through the refuge drive. They were all squawking and fluffing their feathers, in what I assume is probably a mating ritual? Almost all of the birds were Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets, but there were a couple of Tri-Colored Herons and some Ibis. I even saw a Roseate Spoonbill hidden back in the trees. But, mainly it was just a sea of white among the trees and water. It is fascinating to watch if you are lucky enough to happen upon them. It wasn’t long before I had over 500 photos. To spare you, I narrowed it down to around 28 photos!
I’ll start out with the one photo I took of a Tri-Colored Heron
It is really fun to see the Snowy Egrets ruffle their feathers!
The below photo is a good comparison of the size between the Great Egret (front left) and the smaller Snowy Egret (right)
Some of the birds would fly to the top of the trees and then back down into the next area of water and trees. I love the white against the gorgeous blue sky. We just walked along watching them and taking photos until I could no longer hold up the camera, and well, because 500 photos . . .
This one was practically on top of my head!
Back home, the Osprey pair are staying very close to the nest in our neighbor’s backyard. We hope to see them nesting on eggs soon!
I came across this big guy in our backyard again.
He decided to run away from me into the shade, but couldn’t resist stopping to give me a look. His coloring looks different in the shade, but it’s the same green iguana.