Sunday, May 3, 2009

Great Egret


So I'm taking a shovel back to the tool corral [where Stephen is supposed to keep his mes, um tools corraled] and I notice something new to the yard....


It's a great egret! It's big! It's after the fish in our fish pond! It does not want to go away! We finally had to build a mesh cage to put over the pond. It remains optimistic about its chances though. We see it all the time.



Awfully pretty though. And kind of wonderous to have in your yard in downtown Snorasota. Florida is amazingly fecund.


glowing in sunlight
thinly bound by gravity
hope stands on stilt legs

8 comments:

Beth Surdut said...

After all my hoping that Raven would settle into my current garden, he arrived last week, stalking the almost newborn songirds in a nest outside my office. I ran out the door, screaming and flapping at him. Much as we are compadres, this may not have a happy ending.I have set a chicken egg out as a distraction on the other end of the garden...

Kim Northrop said...

oh no!

Beth Surdut said...

Yesterday there were whole 3 eggs, possibly a house finch. Today, one is completely gone, one is hatching, shell moving as I watch, and I found the third baby on the ground, new to the world, little maw open wide asking for food from a currently absent mother, pink with patches of fuzzy tufts like an ancient man's pate.
Raven just flew over the house. He is still my guide, but I have no taste for the blood feasts favored by those tricksters Raven and Coyote.
I'm more comfortable with the ravens of Truth and Memory, the new pair on my blog.

Alison said...

awesome photos! hope the fish are ok. ;)

Kim Northrop said...

They've got lots of places to hide, plus they've finally started breeding.

Beth Surdut said...

My birdkins didn't survive, but not all due to Raven's hunger. The last little one, who I twice found on the ground,didn't have time to grow enough feathers to fly before it disappeared.

Kim Northrop said...

When I read about the birdkin on the ground I did not think it bode well. I wonder if the parents abandoned.

Beth Surdut said...

The mother was right there talking to me from the tree. Audubon here told me to put the bird back in the nest, but today I found a recorded message at national Audubon saying not to. Have no idea what the stats are on birdkin mortatlity rates.