My Fellow Citizen
It’s a snow day here in North Carolina. It started as a thunderstorm last night and switched to snow this morning… the weather doesn’t seem to care it’s the second day of spring. It’s a sorry day for spring but it’s a great day to go over some past images. This is from last March at Charleston, South Carolina… we had a cold snap last March that sent us diving into the deep freeze for days that affected all the early spring bloomers. Azaleas festivals throughout the south went bust. It’s not unheard of, though it’s rare. It’s already warming up here and we’re expecting one last rain later today… I’m going to spread some weed and feed around the lawn while it’s still wet today. Then I’m grilling steaks… it is spring after all. That said, a Facebook friend just posted this: "Missing Person! Police are searching for Mother Nature. She is bi-polar and believed to be off her medication." No doubt! Here’s the dialog I wrote in last year’s post, the same egret at a more showy angle:
There are three types of white egrets here in the states. This one is a great egret. “Well, that’s just wonderful, Mike. But how do you know?” I’m glad you asked. Great egrets are distinguished from snowy and cattle egrets by a few peculiarities evident here, such as the black legs, the yellow bill, and the green patch around his eye, the last one particular only to male great egrets. You may see that and think that he’s camouflaged in the same value as the spring green of the bald cypress he’s resting on. Those showy feathers (yet another distinction of the great egret) that were fluttering in the wind made his camouflage null and void… well, that and the contrastive white tux he was dressed in. That green patch around his eye is prevalent only during mating season… which has made me wonder about my own situation. I have hazel eyes, which means they sometimes appear to be green and other times appear to be brown… likely, however, since I’m often described as being “full of beans”, the “green” condition may indicate I’m just a quart low… darn!
You can tell from those long legs that great egrets are wading birds much like the great blue heron. Its diet consists mostly of small fish… as does the heron, it can be seen in water up to the length of its legs moving ever so slightly until it uses its extensive neck and bill to spear into the water. I’ve never seen one miss its target… and then swallow the hapless fish whole. You may notice that this egret has some discoloration of its feathers… turns out that great egrets, though being wading birds and lacking the webbed feet that geese do, swim using their wings. This fella is drying himself after a short swim in one of the swampy ponds of Magnolia Plantation... among alligators. The gators took note, so he went from breast-stroke to airborne mode quickly… the transition from swimming to flight looked a bit awkward, yet here he is none the worse for it. I remember a story that Louie “Satchmo” Armstrong once told of his childhood that may explain the “discoloration”: “When I was a little boy living in Louisiana, my mother said, ‘Boy, run down to the pond an’ fetch me a pail of water right away. So, I went runnin’ down to this pond to get water, but the minute I went to dip the pail into the water I saw an alligator rise up out of that water. I jumped up and ran home. I no sooner got to the porch when my mother asked, ‘Where’s that water that I told you to get?’ I told her there’s an alligator in that water! She said, “Boy, don't you know that 'that alligator is as afraid of you as you are of him? And I said, ‘Well if that alligator is as afraid of me as I am of him, that water ain’t fit to drink.’” Seems plausible to me.
Many folks have a misunderstanding of Canada geese, thinking they’re Canadian geese… they lack citizenship granting them “Canadian” status, however. On the other hand, great egrets are also known as American egrets. They were nearly hunted to extinction in the mid-20th Century for their plumage to grace women’s hats and accessories. It is for that reason, and possibly because they are such elegant creatures, that they were chosen for the symbol of the Audubon Society… which is reason enough for citizenship.
My Fellow Citizen
It’s a snow day here in North Carolina. It started as a thunderstorm last night and switched to snow this morning… the weather doesn’t seem to care it’s the second day of spring. It’s a sorry day for spring but it’s a great day to go over some past images. This is from last March at Charleston, South Carolina… we had a cold snap last March that sent us diving into the deep freeze for days that affected all the early spring bloomers. Azaleas festivals throughout the south went bust. It’s not unheard of, though it’s rare. It’s already warming up here and we’re expecting one last rain later today… I’m going to spread some weed and feed around the lawn while it’s still wet today. Then I’m grilling steaks… it is spring after all. That said, a Facebook friend just posted this: "Missing Person! Police are searching for Mother Nature. She is bi-polar and believed to be off her medication." No doubt! Here’s the dialog I wrote in last year’s post, the same egret at a more showy angle:
There are three types of white egrets here in the states. This one is a great egret. “Well, that’s just wonderful, Mike. But how do you know?” I’m glad you asked. Great egrets are distinguished from snowy and cattle egrets by a few peculiarities evident here, such as the black legs, the yellow bill, and the green patch around his eye, the last one particular only to male great egrets. You may see that and think that he’s camouflaged in the same value as the spring green of the bald cypress he’s resting on. Those showy feathers (yet another distinction of the great egret) that were fluttering in the wind made his camouflage null and void… well, that and the contrastive white tux he was dressed in. That green patch around his eye is prevalent only during mating season… which has made me wonder about my own situation. I have hazel eyes, which means they sometimes appear to be green and other times appear to be brown… likely, however, since I’m often described as being “full of beans”, the “green” condition may indicate I’m just a quart low… darn!
You can tell from those long legs that great egrets are wading birds much like the great blue heron. Its diet consists mostly of small fish… as does the heron, it can be seen in water up to the length of its legs moving ever so slightly until it uses its extensive neck and bill to spear into the water. I’ve never seen one miss its target… and then swallow the hapless fish whole. You may notice that this egret has some discoloration of its feathers… turns out that great egrets, though being wading birds and lacking the webbed feet that geese do, swim using their wings. This fella is drying himself after a short swim in one of the swampy ponds of Magnolia Plantation... among alligators. The gators took note, so he went from breast-stroke to airborne mode quickly… the transition from swimming to flight looked a bit awkward, yet here he is none the worse for it. I remember a story that Louie “Satchmo” Armstrong once told of his childhood that may explain the “discoloration”: “When I was a little boy living in Louisiana, my mother said, ‘Boy, run down to the pond an’ fetch me a pail of water right away. So, I went runnin’ down to this pond to get water, but the minute I went to dip the pail into the water I saw an alligator rise up out of that water. I jumped up and ran home. I no sooner got to the porch when my mother asked, ‘Where’s that water that I told you to get?’ I told her there’s an alligator in that water! She said, “Boy, don't you know that 'that alligator is as afraid of you as you are of him? And I said, ‘Well if that alligator is as afraid of me as I am of him, that water ain’t fit to drink.’” Seems plausible to me.
Many folks have a misunderstanding of Canada geese, thinking they’re Canadian geese… they lack citizenship granting them “Canadian” status, however. On the other hand, great egrets are also known as American egrets. They were nearly hunted to extinction in the mid-20th Century for their plumage to grace women’s hats and accessories. It is for that reason, and possibly because they are such elegant creatures, that they were chosen for the symbol of the Audubon Society… which is reason enough for citizenship.