Sumas Canal Herons and friends

[nickinthegarden]

I made another stab at finding the Great Egret this morning on the Sumas Canal, this time I stayed on the east side and as I was walking down the Dike Road John Vooys pulled up and gave me a lift down the road to where he had spotted it. It was across the canal on the west side perched in some willow trees just above the water hanging with a Great Blue Heron and doing it's morning preening. I thought it might have already dined and was getting cleaned up afterwards. I saw many Great Blue Herons while I watched hoping it would fly or move closer. During this time Ed the original locater of this bird dropped by and we had a nice chat. After 90 minutes as interesting a bird it was I felt it was time to head back to the truck. I stopped a half dozen times to photograph Great Blue Herons who were hanging out on my side.

Great Blue Heron by Nick, on Flickr


Great Blue Heron by Nick, on Flickr


Great Blue Heron by Nick, on Flickr


Great Blue Heron by Nick, on Flickr

Here is one of my images of this beautiful Great Egret
Not as striking as some of the images posted elsewhere but I was very happy to see it and photograph it.

Great Egret by Nick, on Flickr

While watching the Great Egret I became aware of quite a few Lazuli Buntings singing and flitting around. I photographed one and discovered when I got home that it appears to be leucitic. My initial thought was it a youngster, but it is a little early in the season for babies to have been this fledged and the youngsters have different plumage patterns. 

Leucitic Lazuli Bunting by Nick, on Flickr