Katherine and I had never seen so many Great Egrets at Antonelli Pond before.
It was quite a treat — even after the previous day’s sighting of Great Blue Herons, Green Herons and Black-capped Night Herons at the pond.
The splash on the left in the picture below is an adult Pied-billed Grebe taking cover as the Great Egret is taking off. I hoped the juvenile Pied-billed Grebe was too large for the Great Egret, who mainly eats small fish.
Great Egret taking off over juvenile Pied-billed Grebe. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 A022, handheld, 1/640 sec., f/6.3, ISO 4000. Antonelli Pond, Santa Cruz, California.
And speaking of small fish…
Katherine and I saw a Great Egret dive for and catch a fish. It was cool! Unless you’re the fish.
Everywhere we turned, the Great Egrets were landing or taking off or in flight.
Great Egret. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 A022, handheld, 1/640 sec., f/6.3, ISO 12800. Antonelli Pond, Santa Cruz, California.Great Egret taking flight. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 A022, handheld, 1/4000 sec., f/6.3, ISO 12800. Antonelli Pond, Santa Cruz, California.
The Great Egrets were the most numerous but not the only Ardeidae (the Egret, Heron and Bittern family) present that day.
Below are a Great Blue Heron preparing to land and a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron in flight.
Great Blue Heron landing. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 A022, handheld, 1/4000 sec., f/6.3, ISO 3200. Antonelli Pond, Santa Cruz, California.Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron in flight. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 A022, handheld, 1/640 sec., f/6.3, ISO 6400. Antonelli Pond, Santa Cruz, California.
