Great White Egret on the Carrs

 

Great Egret is no longer the rarity that it used to be but it is still an attractive bird and one that sticks out like a sore thumb, taking minimal effort to find or identify. Regardless it is still scarce enough to feel like a novelty, especially in walking distance from home. The Carrs (which feature a lot in my blogs) have been a productive area for this species, with their many pools and watercourses, since I moved to this side of town. The last couple of winters have been fairly quiet in this area for me in respect to this species, so it was nice to stumble upon one, whilst talking a short breather from work to stretch my legs today. You can hardly miss these large white herons, as in this case it lifted from a ditch and elegantly floated across a field before disappearing down into another ditch. Interestingly there haven't been any of the more typical Little Egrets in the area this past week. 

Update: An early morning walk on the 6th October produced a second bird using the same area, feeding within a ditch along the southern side of the disused landfill at Seamer Tip.