Feeding frenzy. Great Egret parent feeding its huge "chick"! Four shots. Bay Farm Island, Alameda.
As you might recall, John and I used to monitor this colony in Alameda for San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory; we "retired" last year. But the other day we took a drive out to the colony to see if there were any nestlings left. August is always the tail end of the nesting season and the last of six survey months. We found this one large Great Egret chick still on its nest and as luck would have it, a parent bird flew in to feed it. Quite the struggle! Four shots. This tree and nest is quite a distance across the lagoon from where we stand, so the shots are not perfect, but you get the "picture"! The smaller bird to the bottom left of the second and third shots is a Snowy Egret. Although the Snowy is a good sized bird, you can see by comparison how large the Great Egret is ... wing span of nearly 6 feet.
Feeding frenzy. Great Egret parent feeding its huge "chick"! Four shots. Bay Farm Island, Alameda.
As you might recall, John and I used to monitor this colony in Alameda for San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory; we "retired" last year. But the other day we took a drive out to the colony to see if there were any nestlings left. August is always the tail end of the nesting season and the last of six survey months. We found this one large Great Egret chick still on its nest and as luck would have it, a parent bird flew in to feed it. Quite the struggle! Four shots. This tree and nest is quite a distance across the lagoon from where we stand, so the shots are not perfect, but you get the "picture"! The smaller bird to the bottom left of the second and third shots is a Snowy Egret. Although the Snowy is a good sized bird, you can see by comparison how large the Great Egret is ... wing span of nearly 6 feet.