The Egret

     One afternoon in August, 2016, I parked along Mill Creek about a mile south of New Holland, Pennsylvania to watch a five-foot-tall, stately great egret stalking minnows in the clear, shallow water.  Surprisingly, that beautiful, white egret didn't seem to mind my car within twenty feet of it.  Suddenly, another great egret swooped in and landed in the creek near the first one.  Immediately, the first egret flew at the second one that quickly retreated across a tree-studded meadow, closely followed by its pursuer.  Both these members of the heron family landed in separate trees where their white feathering stood out.  Herons and egrets are territorial about fishing spots, which spaces the birds so all can find plenty of fish and other aquatic creatures to eat.      
     I moved about a hundred yards downstream and parked right along the creek to watch it and its overgrown banks for any kind of wildlife.  I was sitting in my car by the creek when the first egret flew straight toward me and landed in the creek about ten yards away from me!  I felt privileged!  And I wondered why that egret landed right beside me.  Was it coincidence, or something else?  As the egret stalked slowly along the shore next to the road, I saw a majestic great blue heron in the creek, carefully stepping out of the shadows of tree limbs hanging over the water and slowly wading toward my car as it watched for fish.  I pulled away to let the egret and heron hunt prey in peace.
     Every year from late July through September, I see several each of post-breeding great egrets and five-foot-tall great blue herons scattered here and there along the shallows of waterways and impoundments in the farmland of southeastern Pennsylvania.  Some years I see more great egrets here than in other years.   
     Great egrets and great blue herons are tall and magnificent in the air and while stalking prey animals, including fish, frogs, tadpoles, small snakes, large insects and other creatures.  They both have long legs for wading and long necks and beaks to reach out with lightning speed to catch victims in their bills.  And they are handsome to see flying powerfully on steady wing beats, with their necks tucked back in an S shape and their long legs trailing beyond their tails for steering and balance in the air. 
     Each species has a few rookeries in the mid-Atlantic States.  But many great egrets come north in July from rookeries in The South.  They are adults that are done nesting and their young of the year looking for waterways and impoundments that are full of prey animals.
     Interestingly, both great egrets and great blue herons use their long, sharp beaks to catch meadow mice in pastures near the streams they frequent to snare aquatic prey.  And the egrets and herons dunk their furry victims in water to slick their fur so those tall birds can swallow them more easily.
     During autumn, the great egrets and some of the great blues drift south to find water that won't freeze during winter.  But next March and April they will come north again to raise young and later scatter around to look for new fishing spots full of prey.