Our plan was to cross the Mississippi River at Chester, MO and head across Illinois and home. Just before Chester, near Kaskaskia, we saw a bridge that went across what was once the main river course before the river changed its course in that area. We were just meandering as usual, not realizing we were about to drive into .....
......Egret-land! There were flooded areas on both sides of the road along the corn fields and there were dozens of Egrets stalking in the water! You have to understand that I don't see a lot of egrets so this was very exciting! We had to stay in the car to not spook them and were taking turns with the cameras depending on which side of the road the birds were, so some of these are Mikes and some are mine.
The green fields, the tall reddish plants, the blue water and the white birds made for a very colorful scene.
I think the one in the middle just caught something.
The reflections on the water were nice, too.
There seem to be two kinds....ones with black feet.....
.....and some with yellow feet like the one on the right. I don't know my egrets, so I'm guessing...Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets?
I couldn't crop the photos much and still have clear shots.
wings spread
The scenery was really beautiful! I wouldn't mind living here, but I bet at times everything is under water for months.
They really stood out in the red grasses :-)
About to strike maybe.
There were Great Blue Heron in the area, too.
Not a great flight shot of the heron, but I like that you can see 8 egrets in the background!
Heron landing.
A pair of Shovelers! The only ducks we saw there.
A barn in the distance beyond the fields.
One deer sneaking off to the corn! This place must be a wildlife paradise! I wish we could have stayed longer!
At one point a Bald Eagle flew in and grabbed something from the water stirring up all the egrets! Mike managed to get this one shot that shows the eagle in the distance and an egret flying away.
The eagle stirred them up a second time and they all flew away......
.....and went to this stand of trees to roost! This far shot is to show all the little white dots that represent egrets. We counted about 20.
Trying to get some closer shots....here are 5.
4 here
A Blue Heron and an Egret in the water down below.
......Egret-land! There were flooded areas on both sides of the road along the corn fields and there were dozens of Egrets stalking in the water! You have to understand that I don't see a lot of egrets so this was very exciting! We had to stay in the car to not spook them and were taking turns with the cameras depending on which side of the road the birds were, so some of these are Mikes and some are mine.
The green fields, the tall reddish plants, the blue water and the white birds made for a very colorful scene.
I think the one in the middle just caught something.
The reflections on the water were nice, too.
There seem to be two kinds....ones with black feet.....
.....and some with yellow feet like the one on the right. I don't know my egrets, so I'm guessing...Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets?
I couldn't crop the photos much and still have clear shots.
wings spread
The scenery was really beautiful! I wouldn't mind living here, but I bet at times everything is under water for months.
They really stood out in the red grasses :-)
About to strike maybe.
There were Great Blue Heron in the area, too.
Not a great flight shot of the heron, but I like that you can see 8 egrets in the background!
Heron landing.
A pair of Shovelers! The only ducks we saw there.
A barn in the distance beyond the fields.
One deer sneaking off to the corn! This place must be a wildlife paradise! I wish we could have stayed longer!
At one point a Bald Eagle flew in and grabbed something from the water stirring up all the egrets! Mike managed to get this one shot that shows the eagle in the distance and an egret flying away.
The eagle stirred them up a second time and they all flew away......
.....and went to this stand of trees to roost! This far shot is to show all the little white dots that represent egrets. We counted about 20.
Trying to get some closer shots....here are 5.
4 here
A Blue Heron and an Egret in the water down below.There seemed to be a small town on this "island" between the waters of the river. We were following signs for a historic bell of some sort, but got distracted by the birds and never found the bell. Well, that ended our trip on a wonderful note and we headed across the Mississippi River and home.
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13 comments:
Here in Egypt the ones with the yellow beaks are the great white Egrets, egretta alba and the ones with black beaks black legs and yellow feet are the Little white Egrets, egretta garzetta, we also have the cattle egrets,bubulcus ibis, but they have an orange wash to the nape of the neck,
You also call some the snowy,
http://redandthepeanut.blogspot.com/
the difference with the snowy and our egrets is the yellow above the black beak and the feathers are finer,
That is the perfect place for them to breed in Mary. Some great shots.
This is amazing.I would have been very excited to see so many Egrets.The reflections are wonderful.Thanks for sharing your adventure.
Blessings,Ruth
Wow that is Egret City, Mary... Glad you went that way and saw so many... What a neat wildlife area. You'll need to go back sometime. Thanks for sharing.
Hugs,
Betsy
Egretastic post Mary! I'm betting that you will get back there again. Those colours and reflections are beautiful..........always hard to resist! Enjoy Wimbledon! (-:
Tony: Thanks for the info on the different kinds!
Joan: It certainly looked like a great place for them. I've never seen more than one at a time before this :-)
Katney: I felt like saying "wow" when I saw them!
Ruth: It was a great place for reflections. I wish we could have stayed longer or go back, but it is 2 or 3 hours from where we live.
Betsy: I was glad we went that way, too :-)
Jenny: Thanks! Wimbledon has certainly been interesting so far! That Mahut/Isner match was just unbelievable....and LONG.
What a wonderful find! All of those egrets. i had never seen that species until traveling to Florida on year. They were so photographic. Although they are considered rare birds her in Nb, occassionally there is a sighting of one near the coast, but in not as many numbers as youu found for sure. I have also seen egrets in Quebec, outside of Montreal one year.
This was a gret post full of wonderful pictures.
Ann
Thanks for taking us on your trip. It's nice you could end it in Egret-land. You got some wonderful pictures here.
I bet you didn't want to leave this place! They are much better than some old bell, even though I tend to like bells.
Also, always have a hard time imagining the landing when herons or egrets land in trees.
Ann: I don't see many here, so this was a treat! They are such elegant looking birds.
George: It was a nice way to end the trip before heading home.
Rose:I'm sure the bell would have been interesting, but Mike was tired of driving and we needed to head home. We'll just have to find the bell next time! They do seem such big birds for landing in trees.
What a cool post Mary. I think Egrets make for such interesting subjects. We never see any around here. What a treat!
B.
Becky: I think for me it was the highlight of the whole trip!
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