The Peaceful Morn

Despite the chill in the air, Mark and I took Ms. Ez out for her morning run.  As soon as we were out the gate, Mark stopped me and called my attention to a bit of beauty near the pier.  The below freezing temperature had not stopped the egrets from hunting breakfast.  In fact, it most likely helped them by practically handing them minnows.  The north wind had blown the tide far out from the marsh and had exposed the mudflats once again.  In those mudflats, there are small tide pools of trapped water and in those tide pools there are trapped minnows.  Not being able to seek shelter in the marshes, the minnows were made sluggish by the icy waters.  They could hardly swim which made them easy targets for the egrets.

Seeing the egrets was not that unusual as, on any given day, I can usually spy ten or so around the Bayou.  What excited me was the fact that these were two different types of egrets that seemed to be working together to snag their breakfast.  A Great Egret and a Snowy Egret both fished side by side in the frigid water.  As I was snapping picture after picture, I noticed something else creeping into view!  Now I had three different birds working the same tiny pool!  A rail had ventured out of the marsh and fished right alongside of the larger birds.  Wow!  How neat that the three could coexist without squabbles!  (Makes you wonder just why we, as humans, cannot do the same.)

I was just about to pull back the camera when I saw yet another unusual pair.  Near the edge of the pier, a dove sat fluffed out against the cold wind.  Inches away, another rail searched the mud for any movement.  These, too, were on friendly terms.  I had to photograph those as well. All in all, I must say that it was a very happy morning for me!  I was thrilled with the opportunity to not only view the peacefulness that these birds showed to one another but to be able to capture on film the amicability of the group.