At the local marsh this morning, about 20 Great Egrets congregated around the edges of the shrinking pond of flooded wetland left after the abundance of June rain. I wish I had been able to photograph the scene at 7:30 a.m. when I drove by, but went back with a camera an hour later.

Only a few Great Egrets remained from the earlier congregation. The water level of the flooded wetland has gone down quite a bit, but is still attractive to the big waders.

I didn’t spot the Great Blue Heron until it moved to a new spot. It was well camouflaged by the dead grass in which it was standing.
The reddish leaves of the dead trees and brown color of the grasses that were in the flooded areas make it look like fall has arrived here already. But recent cool mornings and evenings will probably start that chain reaction of leaf color change soon enough. We hardly had summer weather this year.
The background really does look like fall scenery.
Actually I was lamenting the other day that the weather is starting to feel like fall already. Crisp, cool mornings and evenings with some warmth in the middle of the day.
I was just lamenting the other day that the weather is feeling fall-like with crisp, cool mornings and evenings. Too soon!!!
I’d be happy to see one egret. I’ve never seen one, even though I lived in Florida for a while.
You take such wonderful photos in NH. We need to get you over this way some day…
Wonderful shots, Sue, of some of my favorite birds. Just this past week, I was feeling some of the same sense frustration as I tried to get some shots of an egret at my local marsh–it was just too far away from me for me to get a good shot. I especially like your in-flight shot of the egret. Though they fly slowly and are pretty big, I find egrets tough to photograph. Maybe my camera has trouble focusing on the pure white color of their bodies, which often ends up with totally blown out highlights.
Oh yeah, those white egrets are just about impossible to get the correct exposure. I find the best thing is early morning or late evening, when the light is already dim.