I drove out to the Consumnes River Wildlife Refuge this afternoon. It was a pleasant and relaxing venture. Along the way the usual pics are taken of the tractor, cows, sheep, and sometimes the blue sky. No blue skies today! But the Egret was there.
The Egret
There is an Egret that hangs around the refuge. He/she does not go where ever egrets go in the winter. It stays at the refuge. This particular egret taunted me the past few years to the point where it has become a joke with my friends. We call the egret – well, Eg-gie. Somehow Eggie knows when the camera lens is not pointed at him so he can take off and fly. Leaving me with a ton of shots of Eggie but none flying wings spread.
Eggie follows me when I make my way along the path. Eggie has even gone so far as to hide behind trees and brush all the while I am there only to end up five feet from the restroom door. I swear he waited until I put my gear in the truck and when I came out of the restroom – there is arse was. Out smarted by a bird – the bird – Eggie – again!
Eggie and I have a game we play. As I walk down the pathway he stalks me. Hiding behind trees or Tully brush he ever so slowly keeps pace with me. If I go back he goes back. If a move foward – he moves forward. If a stare at him – he stares back. If I ignore him – he moves closer only to boogie if a pull up the camera. LOL this bird is fun to pass time with.
Today was no exception. Eggie followed, Eggie hid, Eggie flew when I looked over at some ducks. Eggie stalked me when I paid no attention.
I was feeling special – my relationship with Eggie and all. Today a couple showed up and we started up a conversation. Yep, Eggie does the same thing to them. Although he has never waited at the restroom door for them.
I actually got a few good shots of Eggie because Eggie did not know who to follow or where he should hide. LOL He did take flight after I put my camera in the bag.
Here are a few of the shots I got today of Eggie
(my Egret)
and a little bird:
and yeah I kind of sort of know that it probably is not the same Egret every time but all Egrets are Eggie sort of maybe kind of . …
If I remember I will put up some photos that show Eggie stalking.
You know, I don’t think I knew what an egret was (other than a crossword puzzle answer!) Thanks for the pix so I can increase my knowledge. If I had just been shown the photo, I’d have guessed crane or stork! Who knew!
Peace,
Muff
Yeah I was very confused when I first started taking pics of birds. My blogging friend Karoli helped me out. What I have figured out is that egrets are a type of heron. Cranes have shorter necks than egrets. If you see em flying cranes hold their necks straight and egrets have kind of an S curve to them when flying or they tuck them in. And egrets have black legs and longer beaks.
What confused me for the longest time was there is such a bird as a white phase heron augh! O yeah there is some kind of egret that has orange-ish colored feet.
I know you probably did not really want to know this stuff ha – but now you do!
Jan
I stopped by because you’re following me on Twitter. I’m about to go to bed now, but just wanted to let you know: I’m glad you defined Egret, because I had no idea what that was! I’ll be back though. Cool. Nicole
Thank you for stopping by. You can blame Sherri for the follow . … naw I have read your blog since Lisa pointed to it on her site and noticed the two (blog and twitter) matched up.
See. I told you I’d be back! Glad I did too. Nice pics. You must have a fancy camera! Oh, it never dawned on me that it could be more than one bird!
Nicole
But it was the same egret seriously. I spent over an hour watching him and he did follow me it was fun.
Doh, color me naive. I was totally buying the whole Jan and Eggie special relationship business aside from him/her being a bit of a stalker of others as well. Then, like Nicole, it never dawned on me that it was likely more than one bird. Am more than a tad disappointed.
Great photos – I think #6 got me the most.
Donna
augh my little munchkin it was the same bird. The other egret out there that day was smaller and no fun.
Eggie really does stalk and hide and play games. He never fly’s when I have my camera out. Now if he is the same one that was at the restroom a prior time I can not say for sure.
Egrets live a long time and some of them do take up permanent residency at the refuges. This one I am almost certain has been playing games with me all year.
Anyway I swear upon my magic wand, Catfish’s favorite toy, whatever LOL the bird in the photos is all the same bird.
Phew, ok, there is order in the world — at least sometimes.
So, you mentioned Catfish and I tentatively asked how’s the Catfish doing?
Mr. Catfish is hanging in there. His coat is not as lush as it used to be and he has upset stomach a lot. I now feed smaller meals through the day and that seems to help. He is more clingy also.
All and all way better than expected. He is now with me on ignoring doctors and doing your own thing LOL
Thanks for asking – and Catfish says hiya to Jake – well I think that is what woof ruf ruf roo means!
Sweet! I actually gasped when I scrolled down to see this photo. Now, that’s a stalker — well, I guess for this pic you were the stalker. Anyway, most excellent!