I took this Great Egret photo yesterday at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge. Even with the morning mist, I could tell something fluffy was stuck on its bill.
What the fluff?
The light was low; the sun hadn’t fully risen yet, but the mist looked wonderful surrounding the egret. Almost mystical. I felt compelled to take photos.
Great Egret in a morning mist with cottonwood fluff on their bill – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1/100, ISO 2000, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
I stepped out of my dear friend Steve Creek’s pickup, and rested my lens on his hood to take the egret images I wanted. The white fluff stuck on the bill of this egret? Steve figured out what it was.
Cottonwood fluff.
Cottonwood fluff on a fallen log – Samsung cell phone image
The Eastern Cottonwood trees are now spreading that cottonwood fluff all over the refuge and anywhere there are cottonwood trees in that part of Oklahoma.
Cottonwood fluff bothers my eyes. If the fluff gets into my eyes, it drives me batty for hours, and I need my eyes to find and photograph birds. When I say this cottonwood fluff bothers my eyes, I should emphasize that it does so horribly, and I end up looking like I’ve been on a month-long crying jag.
Look at all the fluff just this one tiny branch brought down by wind has to blow around, and hopefully not into my eyes.
Preening Great Egret in a morning mist – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1/80, ISO 1000, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Still, I loved photographing the egret in the rising morning mist of Horton Slough at the refuge. It appears that the Great Egret is either going into or coming out of its breeding plumage, judging by the elegant, lacy, breeding plumes.
The low light and the mist made for difficult photography conditions, but I really like the way these images turned out.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Great Egret photos plus facts and information about this species. Click here to see more of my wildflower, shrub and tree photos.
Lovely pics, Mia
I do hope that your eyes stayed clear. Thank you for this stunning and beautiful series. Such an elegant bird.
I especially like the last shot with the continuity between the egret’s delicate, lacy plumes and the wispy bits of spider web decorating his perch. And here’s to cottonwood fluff staying where it belongs!
These are beautiful, we seldom see the breeding plumes in Utah.
I used to bring home cattail, willow and cottonwood seed fluff and put it in a cage suet feeder for birds to use as nesting material. It would disappear quickly. The finches and hummingbirds liked it most. I once watched a male Downy woodpecker leave with a beak full, that one baffled me. I worried he might feed it to his young so I stopped filling the suet feeder with the fluff. It’s best to let nature do it’s thing without my help.
Pretty cool. Thanks for braving the elements.
Egrets. I have a love hate relationship with voice to text 🙄
My favorite of all time is seeing Egypt’s in there. Mating, plumage, it looks so Elegant
Gorgeous! Amazing captures using such fabulous plumage.