Hi all,
Some follow-up notes on today's egret now that the adrenaline has faded:
First, my initial impression of a gull-like shape and size (sans bins)
was in retrospect a first clue, that I overrode with my immediate
presumption of Great Egret. Sometimes it's good to have a 17-yr-old on
hand to tell you frankly that you're wrong.
Second, the distance wasn't quite as far as the landfill (which I
mentioned as a point of reference), the bird was circling about 2/3 of
the way from our house to the intersection of Hwy 99W and Camp
Adair/Coffin Butte Rd, which is about 1/3 of a mile. So it was actually
a reasonably good view with bins.
Third, the legs were very clearly black including the feet. Looking at
some internet references and also the National Geographic guide (v. 4),
some suggest that Cattle Egrets should have yellowish legs but from
other references, it seems that's not accurate for this season. Sibley
shows black legs for non-breeding adults in this season. Immature birds
are said to have blackish legs and blackish bills, but with bills
turning yellow by this time of year, similar to non-breeding adults.
Fourth, the soaring behavior was definitely interesting for an egret. My
memory isn't real clear on how much of this was "pure soaring" vs.
"casual flapping while circling on a thermal to gain altitude." The bird
was flapping in a gull-like manner when I got on it initially, but I
didn't keep track of how much time it spent doing this vs. pure soaring
on the thermals. My gut feeling is that it was more of the former than
the latter.
Anyway I think the final lesson on this is that, if at all possible, try
to have a 17-yr-old birding with you to question your initial
assumptions. Unless you're a 17-yr-old yourself, in which case you might
want to have a 15-yr-old along.
Happy birding,
Joel
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
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