Egrets On The Nest

Those of you who read our blog know by now that I am an avid nature fan, and one of the things I love the most about my job as a Cappy, is watching the wildlife as I cruise along the bayous and marshes of South Louisiana. There are several large egret colonies along the Gulf Coast Intracoastal Waterway. These pictures are of a huge group of egrets that nest about 10 miles west of the town of Larose, LA. The colony stretches for a mile or more, with hundreds of birds. Typically, the birds fly in to their nesting area right at dark and spend the night there. In the morning, right at sunrise, they fly off in persuit of "Egretish" activities. This makes photographing them all but impossible, but with your mind's eye, try to imagine the sight, as I pan my spotlight over these trees at night, when they are covered with tightly packed, pure white sleeping 'ghosts'. Since the area is highly traveled by boats, we don't even disturb them. I come rumbling by, waving my spotlight at them, and they don't even stir. Good thing they sleep with their head tucked under a wing. I aint da only bird watcher on the ICW. The egrets sit their nests in the month of July, hatching and caring for their babies, and that is the only time ya find 'em on their nest and roost in the day time. That's how I was able to take these pictures. Keep in mind that this is less than half of the ones that roost at night though, as all the juveniles, and the mates of the sitters are off fishing for the family.