Great Egret (Ardea Alba)

Had another good day at the Nisqually wildlife refuge. Got out of my car and first thing I hear are the red winged blackbirds, a new sound for this place so far, so it must be time for their return. The 50+ eagles of last weekend are back down to a dozen or so. Started walking down the path and noticed a part white robin that I correctly identified as partially leucistic after asking someone in the know. I had never seen one, and even though he was my first photo, I was all ready to blip him today. Very interesting. Lots of the usual suspects, Canada geese, pintails, shovelers, wigeons, mallards. Quiet on the songbird side. Walked out on the boardwalk for a bit and got a decent shot of a belted kingfisher. Saw several herons, and got some good shots, but none as good as last weekend.

Walked all the way back, checked in to see when the owl was last spotted...looks like it's been none for a week. Was just about to pull on the freeway onramp when noticed someone walking with their camera up stealthily so I had to stop. The egret and a heron were in a field. She quickly spooked the egret, but I did catch an in flight photo. It flew to another field and I was able to get out and sneak up to it for today's blip. I'm sad about the leucistic robin not being here, but the egret is the clear winner as if you look at the range map of Washington, egrets are nowhere near where I was today, it's an uncommon visitor for us, so very exciting!

All the other goodies will go on Facebook later :)