On the way back from the Gull Pond area and back towards the wildlife drive, I saw several Great Egrets sitting in a tree on the corner of the Gull Pond. I stopped and setup my tripod in an area with just barely enough room to see between the trees. Two of the Egrets were engaged in some sort of altercation that can only be described as being similar to a third grade child’s “I know you are but what am I ?” type of argument during recess. They would stand on branches and each would raise its neck a few inches to try and top the height of the other one. Up, up, up their necks would go until they could extend no further. A few tense seconds would elapse as the one who was still shorter would have to give up, after which the melee below would take place with lots of wing waving and squawking and grunting. Then things would calm down for thirty seconds until they would resume the neck raising contest again. Had the Egret on the right just moved to a branch more level with the other Egret, it would have been a more fair contest and maybe worthy of a little less drama. It was a blast to watch.
From my 7-3-2009 trip to Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, NJ.
For more information on the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at www.fws.gov/northeast/forsythe/.
For more information on Great Egrets, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.
