Where did our Great Egrets go? I’m asking that question this year because they are a familiar summer time bird at the Falls of the Ohio. Visitors are usually treated to their presence from May to October or for however the warm weather lasts. Usually, you can see them along the water’s edge fishing along with Great Blue Herons, Black-crowned Night-Herons, and the occasional Green Heron and Snowy Egrets. As I have mentioned in previous posts, this hasn’t been the most typical of years.
Although 2009 still has a few months left to go, this year has been among our wettest and our summer was the coolest I can ever recall. I have lived most of my life in Kentucky and we hit the 90 degree mark only a few times early in the season. Usually, summers here are hot, humid, and long. Just about everybody I know has acknowledged that this has been another climatically unusual year, but nobody has been complaining about the cooler than average summer.
A possible exception could be our Great Egrets. I have been out at the Falls most of this year and have been trying to pay attention to when birds arrive and leave our area. As far as I can tell, the Great Egrets were only around for a week in July. I recorded seeing them on July 19 and then they were gone. More rain and cool weather followed their appearance and obviously they went somewhere else, but where?
The images of the Great Egret and roosting Black Vultures were made at the Falls during October of 2008. They are among my personal favorite bird pictures that I have taken in the park. I was walking near the dam that separates the Ohio River from the fossil beds and came across this scene. A previous flood had stranded a dead tree on the wall and made a nice resting spot. I liked the contrast between the stately white egret rising above the fidgety and squabbling vultures. I had to be extra stealthy in my approach since my camera isn’t equipped with the best telephoto lens. The Black Vultures seem to be getting more ubiquitous and this year I counted one flock of over fifty birds. Soon, they too will be migrating to warmer parts down south, perhaps they will be catching up with our Great Egrets?
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