Great Egret in Brandon Vt

My computer chimed meaning that a new email had arrived , I didn't check it till about noon and was surprised by what I found, "A call from a friend via a cell phone alerted me to a great egret here in Brandon. Located by the Dean Farm bridge on Union St. Sue Wetmore ". At the same time the phone rang, it was Bill Jalbert. I ask him if he knew where the Dean Farm was in Brandon? Why, because Sue Wetmore reported a Great egret in Brandon. You wanted to go looking for it? Half hour latter I was in Rutland meeting Bill and his son, Bill checked Google maps for the location and we were off. The cloud front was breaking up the sunshine and blue made it a perfect day for a Birding Adventure. As usual with birding adventures when we got there the bird was nowhere to be found. Asking a couple of fishing guy's if they had seen a large white bird that looks like a blue heron only produced more frustration, "ye it was over there about 20 minutes ago" pointing to the field behind them.Bill headed west of the bridge and I went east to double check the wet areas again. I got it was all I heard and then the sound of Bill running to get his camera, I join him running. Here are some image I took.

Image of Great Egret with pray

Bill and his son had to leave, I stayed and kept birding the area. here is a list for today:

Great Egret 1

Wood Duck 4

Ringbillied Gull 15

Great Blue Heron 1

Mallard 2

Tree Swallow 9

Cardinal 1

Crow 4

Kestrel 2 one flying by with pray

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker 2 courting

Killdeer 3

Canada Geese 6

White Breasted Nuthatch 1

Yellow shafted Flicker 1

Robin 2

and 7 Painted Turtles basking in the sun

About 5;30 I headed west on Rt 73 to see what I could see, the farm at the junction of Rt 73 and 30 is always productive and today was no different. Grackle taking flight

Kestrel 2

Killdeer 3

Sharp-shin 1

Hundreds of Starlings, Cowbirds, Grackles and Redwinged Black Birds maybe a thousand in all

this image is of 268++Cowbirds gritting on the side of the road, spooked by traffic

Morning Dove 7

and this Wood Chuck with a mouth full of fresh salad.

Good Birding

Pete

Story and images © Peter Manship all rights reserved