Following the leads from George Clark and Kathy Thompson, I headed over this afternoon to Campbell Flats to take another crack at finding the snowy egret, what had been for me a most elusive quarry. I reached the sighting spot, scanned the dead trees, and no egret was in sight. I was about to leave, when I notice that the creek feeding into the Ompompanoosuc had been drained. Had the beaver dam been breached? I walked along the embankment towards the dam, and there in the shallow water near the dam was the snowy!
I was getting a good look at the bird through my binoculars, when suddenly, the head of a great blue heron appeared in the view's foreground. That was unexpected and noteworthy, I thought. I had them both fixed. Then, behind the egret, a somewhat large bird fluttered into a shrub. Getting the binoculars on it, to my wonder the bird was a green heron. Yes, I was filled with wonder at that coincidence. Three waders at once!
I realized my iPhone was in the car. If I went back to get it for documentation purposes, would my movement scare this remarkable confluence away? It was worth the chance. When I returned, all three were still there. I took shots that included efforts to zoom in, keeping in mind my natural tremor would be an issue the more I tried to zoom given the corresponding sacrifice of resolution. Stabilization would be an issue.
I felt satisfied I got a couple of good photos and was preparing to leave, when a second great blue descended out near the river. Again, I tried for photographic documentation with mixed results, but taken collectively, all four birds clearly are seen at one time or the other. I will post them on Flickr.
Quite an experience!
Blake Allison