Stalking the Snowy Egret

Twice a year or so, the River City Riders find themselves along the shores of the Salton Sea. A favored rest stop is an abandoned resort on the northeast shore where numerous waterfowl rest and feed. The resort’s breakwaters, built to shelter small pleasure craft from high winds and waves, provide near-perfect perches for birds. The photo below shows the abandoned resort’s breakwaters.

Though there are a typical abundance of various pelicans and gulls in the area, my primary interest is in the Herons, particularly the Snowy Egret. We stopped on a group ride in early March, 2009, and I photographed the egret shown below in mid flight between two pilings with my Lumix FX01. Note the other egrets on the breakwater in the background.

I wanted to go back and photograph the egrets when there was more time to stay by the shore and wait for suitable photographs to present themselves. I waited too long, though. Mike Harmon and I rode back down there equipped with our Nikon DSLRs at the end of April, but the majority of the egrets were gone. They had migrated north for the summer, no doubt. There were plenty of pelicans and gulls to photograph (see below) but it just wasn’t what we were there for.