Tag Archives: Great Egret

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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.

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Bob Rutemoeller noticed two Great Egrets at the Gualala River recently. One of them he was able to get relatively close to, and he got some wonderful photos. The first photo shows the Egret's reflection in river.

Great Egret reflected in the Gualala River by Bob Rutemoeller Great Egret 2 by Bob Rutemoeller Great Egret 3 by Bob Rutemoeller

And then the Great Egret did a flyby right over Bob and he got these beautiful photos.

Thanks to Bob for allowing me to share these photos with  you here.

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Great Egrets will eat many things, including small mammals. Mike Mee photographed this Egret on The Sea Ranch capturing a Western Skink, a type of lizard, for its dinner.

I thank Mike for allowing me to share his photo with you here.

 If you'd like to see what a Western Skink looks like, here's a prior post on this site: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/08/17/western-skink-is-not-singing-the-blues/