The Snowy Egret

A few months ago I was house sitting in Santa Ana CA and not far from where I was staying was a kind of "natural" area, the Lower Santiago Creek (pretty much a dry flood control basin with sections paved, used for parking cars, but I go on). However there is a place where a spring flows from a concrete culvert and there is water there year round, if only a few inches deep. This isn't a great photo, but you'll get the picture of where I'm talking about...


I didn't notice it at all but you can see it in the water, a snowy egret! Now I have never seen one before, they do not live in Oregon, and when I saw it I gasped (but not too loudly, I didn't want to scare it away!) I don't think I have ever seen such a beautiful bird. I was maybe ten feet away, and it didn't seem to mind me being there, it just went on feeding, ignoring me! So I took some pictures and that bird made the place seem a bit magical to me, even though there was trash strewn about, auto traffic, etc. So here are some shots I took...

























If you're interested I also shot a 2 and a half minute video so you can see how it hunts for food, Also, you can hear the auto traffic nearby (it was evening rush hour and near sundown, hence the nice colors)...

http://vid128.photobucket.com/albums/p195/baronius/snowy%20egret/snowyegret_zps84f5ebf0.mp4