Tag Archives: Great Egret

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Great Egrets are year-round residents of the Mendonoma Coast. They can often be found near a river. Craig Tooley photographed one resting on a coastal bluff.

In breeding plumage, a patch of feathers on their face near their eyes turns green. We have a smaller egret here, a Snowy Egret. Eric Zetterholm's photo shows the larger Great Egret on the left and the smaller Snowy Egret on the right.

Great Egrets are the symbol of the National Audubon Society. These birds were killed for their feathers, which were used to decorate women's hats. Audubon was founded to stop this practice, thus saving these elegant birds from extinction.

Thanks to Craig and Eric for allowing me to share their photos with you here. To see much more of Craig's nature photography, here is the link to his website: http://www.ruffimage.com

Drippy fog early this morning has completely disappeared. It's a lovely summer day on the Mendonoma Coast.

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Ron Bollander has a tradition for Christmas Day - he goes out in nature with his camera. One of the birds Ron photographed was this beautiful Great Egret.

Here this Great Egret has her neck extended. Perhaps she has spotted a tasty fish in this marshy area.

Great Egrets were nearly hunted to extinction because their feathers were prized in ladies' hats. The Great Egret is the symbol of the National Audubon Society. Audubon was founded to protect birds from being killed for their feathers.

A Great Egret's call isn't musical, that's for sure! You can listen to it here: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Egret/sounds

Thanks to Ron for allowing me to share his photos with you here.

Weather report - cloudy with very light rain. Then we switch back to sunny weather. Oh my, I have to show you last night's sunset. It was truly a spectacular way to end 2019. Happy New Year to all!

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Several coast residents saw these six Great Egrets fly overhead, one at The Sea Ranch and one north of Gualala. Eric Zetterholm photographed them. For some reason, we don't usually see a large group of Great Egrets flying by.

Earlier Eric found them by the Gualala River. In this next photo he shows the larger Great Egrets with a smaller Snowy Egret between them.

Here's a favorite photo of a Great Egret taken by Bob Rutemoeller.  You can see how much of the bird's wings are feathers!

Thanks to Eric and Bob for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

After two small storms (Monday's brought .20 inches and Wednesday's brought .25 inches), we are back to sunny, breezy weather. It was sure nice to get the early rain.

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Great Egrets are year-round residents of the coast and can often be seen alongside the Gualala River. Rozann Grunig spotted one recently resting on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Here is a fun photo taken by Siegfried Matull some years ago of a Great Egret standing next to a Brown Pelican.

Thanks to Rozann and Siegfried for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

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Carolyn André spotted what she deemed a male Great Blue Heron and a female Great Egret. I'll let Carolyn tell the story.  “So they start off like this, couldn’t be bothered to even look at each other. He’s busy looking the other way, but they keep turning to look at each other.

Great Blue Heron ignoring a Great Egret by Carolyn André

“Then she gets mad and starts walking his way – quickly.

Great Egret headed towards a Great Blue Heron by Carolyn André

"So he turns around and starts walking towards her. Then she stops, so he stops. And they’re still out there ignoring each other.”

The two species of birds usually avoid each other in order not to compete for food.

Thanks to Carolyn for a fun story, and for allowing me to share her photos with you here.