Covert Mom
The constant peeping drew my attention. These Pied-billed Grebe chicks seemed always hungry and never satisfied. They never left Mom Grebe’s side. Where she swam, they swam.
She looks like she’s smiling, but after a while, their incessant cheeps drove her to the breaking point. She dove underwater and resurfaced in an undisclosed location. I couldn’t find her and neither could her chicks. The dazed chicks became silent and drifted in bewilderment.
I moved on and drove further down Highway 49.
How fortuitous that these two egrets crossed paths! The larger one is a Great Egret. His legs are black. His bill is yellow. The Snowy Egret is, obviously, smaller. He has black legs with yellow feet and a dark bill. There is a reddish orange area in front of the eye which is typical during breeding.[1] There are a number of egrets on the south side of Highway 49 today. I might not have noticed the Snowy Egret in the mix if he hadn’t posed next to a Great Egret.
[1] Donald and Lillian Stokes, Field Guide to Birds: Eastern Region (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1996), 35.
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