Early October a surprise - the snowy egrets are back. This time they were doing something unusual I hadn’t seen before. All day, everyday for five days, they mixed ceremony and orderly one-by-one performances with their more expected vigils and fishing.
The visiting October Snowy Egrets gather. After a long while of water watching, one takes off, marking a large circular wake as it skims the water. The others wait and watch.
Alternately touching and dragging its feet on water while flying, the egret leaves a circular path made of a chain of ringlets.
As the first egret finishes its circle, it returns near mound. The next egret takes off as the first lands. Each egret draws a circle on the water by touching its feet to the surface.
Frame by frame the camera follows the flight. The egret is fishing, scoring as many as 3 strikes, 3 fish with each flight.
What is too fast for the eye to see, the camera reveals the grace as the egret strikes while moving at full speed.
The egret’s head goes down toward a half somersault as it completes its strike. It does not lose the speed of its flight or grace. It’s possible to watch the egret for a bit before realizing that the egret is fishing.
The Egrets and ~ Shawnee
It was October 6th that a squadron of snowys came in before dusk. Snowy egrets by the dozen! Coming in from the north and landing in the north end of Aquatic Park lagoon, the same spot the egrets turned into an event in 2011. Some revisit annually and in surprising numbers every few years.
They come on the Pacific flyway and stay a week before heading south, many to Mexico and beyond.
At the Aquatic Park lagoon they gather like surfers, waiting for a wave. But they are not surfers. They are skimmers, hoppers, low flyers making their own waves in a circular show.
Spirit of the Way - store.joyokanji.com/spirit-way
At the beginning of October we lost our young Gordon setter Shawnee.
It is not uncommon to sense a surprise visit hitched to the spirit of a bird after a passing.
This image above of a snowy egret is dedicated to her. The photo has a title, Spirit of the Way. The kanji symbol is Soul.
A young egret separates herself from the others. She does short back and forth flights close to me, practicing her skill. The way she balances is with an askew grace. Familiar. Proud. Good to see you.
A front view of the egret’s flying water-walk hunt.
At the gathering, a few egrets try different games when they take a break from fishing.
In heightened moments like the chase egrets transform to an otherworldly beauty.
Taking-Off
At dusk the waiting games and hunt continue in the company of the year-around great egret who presides at the north end of the lagoon.
Beginnings ~ 5 Years Earlier