Snowy Egret on the CSU Stanislaus Campus

What a treat last night! I'm back to work teaching classes, including an evening course at CSU Stanislaus. There's a large pond behind my office that has offered shelter to a surprising number of species, and some of them are acclimated enough to humans that they allow themselves to be photographed in relatively close quarters. I took these shots from a well-trafficked sidewalk along the pond edge. I had three uniquely beautiful birds in one spot, a Great Egret, a Snowy Egret, and a Black-crowned Night Heron (below).

The picture above may well be the Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) that has appeared previously on this blog, but I've never caught this pose with the head feathers on alert. It's one of my favorite pics in recent months.

Snowy Egrets are smaller than the Great Egrets, as can be seen below. The Green Heron is on the fence. It will probably be featured in the next post.