(c) 2010 Lydia Hinshaw
These great egrets were hopping mad!
Waiting for something to dieDE LEON SPRINGS, FL -- Thursday's photo expedition to the Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge was almost a complete disappointment.
The weather wasn't as forecast, but too cloudy for decent photography. There was work being done on the refuge which required a noisy tractor to keep running the whole time we were there. And there were vultures, like this cheerful fellow, everywhere. They loitered in trees, commandeered park benches and waddled on the ground, where they behaved like large, ugly chickens.
Vultures eat dead things, and it was clear they hoped we'd somehow cooperate in providing them with breakfast, or lunch, or any old meal.
After about 90 minutes, we'd given up and started back to the car when I heard squawking. Some distance away, two great egrets had gotten into an argument. At first I thought this was a mating dance, but they aren't in their breeding plumage. Back home, further research confirmed that this isn't the mating season.
Apparently it was a simple territorial dispute, eventually won by the egret on the left, who chased the other one away.
The pictures turned out well, considering the distance, the long lens and the low light.
See more of the egret fight on flickr, link at right.
The weather wasn't as forecast, but too cloudy for decent photography. There was work being done on the refuge which required a noisy tractor to keep running the whole time we were there. And there were vultures, like this cheerful fellow, everywhere. They loitered in trees, commandeered park benches and waddled on the ground, where they behaved like large, ugly chickens.
Vultures eat dead things, and it was clear they hoped we'd somehow cooperate in providing them with breakfast, or lunch, or any old meal.
After about 90 minutes, we'd given up and started back to the car when I heard squawking. Some distance away, two great egrets had gotten into an argument. At first I thought this was a mating dance, but they aren't in their breeding plumage. Back home, further research confirmed that this isn't the mating season.
Apparently it was a simple territorial dispute, eventually won by the egret on the left, who chased the other one away.
The pictures turned out well, considering the distance, the long lens and the low light.
See more of the egret fight on flickr, link at right.
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