A Tall Great Egret

I mentioned something yesterday about seeing some of the big water birds while I was out surveying the storm damage. Today I want to show you the first on I found. This will be the second Great Egret that I have had the privilege of seeing now. You can see the first one here, with some of my best pictures ever.

Yesterday as I made it out of the woods and down to my first destination, which happened to be the fishing platform, I began to check the water level to try and see how bad the flooding had gotten. I looked up and down the lake to see what damage had been caused. But then something caught my eye!

I had no idea why I hadn't seen it right away, but there right in front of me, on the other side of the lake, was this beautiful great egret standing there. I've see it flying before, but only through the trees. I was never in a place to get any good pictures of it before now. This might be my lucky day.

I took over fifty pictures of this magnificent bird. The only problem was that the misty fog was too thick to get many good shots, and I was pushing my camera's zoom to the limit anyway. Under the circumstances I'm surprised the photos came out as good as you see here. I was extremely lucky that day.

It was at that moment that the low battery warning indicator on my camera started flashing. I had just purchased new batteries, and even though I always charge them first, they never last long the first time I use them. I was going to have to use my backups, but I wanted to try to get as many shots of this bird as I could first.

I was in luck because the batteries lasted just long enough for me to get enough shots before this big bird decided it was time to hide from the maniac with the camera. I really wish I could tell you that I got a picture of it in the air, but that's where my luck ran out. I got nothing of the sort.

This picture above is the last shot I got of this bird before it leaped into the air and flew away. Oh, I do have a few very bad shots from afterwards, but I don't think you'll want to see them. They're not only blurry, but they are only flashes of white at the edges of the pictures.

I'd like to say though that I still was able to observe this creature for the first time in all its natural glory, and I got the pictures so I could share a small part of it with you. So this was an exciting adventure for me. I recommend looking for animals right after a storm, and when it's safe. So many come out at those times.

I want to leave you with some blog news. I added a few extra bits in my sidebar at the top. I'm hoping they will improve your experience on this blog. The first is a poll, and it will change once a week or so. The second is my Twitter updates. I'll be using this one to give a few Quick Updates here and there on things that I've done recently. I hope you like them. Tell me what you think. I want the absolute truth, I can take it.