The day before yesterday a little egret came and perched in the tree outside the kitchen window. I rushed for the camera, tried to autofocus (failed - white bird against a white background with dark twigs in front of it is a recipe for failure) tried to manually focus (failed - I think its an age thing) but fired off a couple of shots before it took off for the river and thus became responsible for probably the worst photographs of a Little Egret in a tree ever taken.
When I was young Little Egrets only existed as pictures in books of foreign birds. Grown ups would travel the length and breadth of the country to go and see the occasional vagrant as possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity and so I certainly never expected to see them outside the house as an adult. Now serious birders barely give them a second look except to see if a distant one can be turned into a cattle egret - I do though, they will always be an exotic species to me. I can't help but smile when I see one, particularly when they shake those big incongruously yellow feet of theirs.
Anyway, yesterday I happened to see one circle down into the river outside and popped out to get a couple of shots before it disappeared into the bank. As it did so I heard another call in the air and looked up to see two circling round before flying off to give a total of three, a record for here I think.
Just for amusement I added the best of the worst from two days ago for a spot the egret competition..
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