Great Egrets
WINGIN’ IT By Kate Crowley Herons and egrets are birds that skulk along the edges of streams, ponds and rivers waiting for an unwary fish or frog to come within striking distance. Faster than the eye can follow, their long necks uncoil as their beaks spear the water and their prey. You have to admire their patience as they stand absolutely still for minutes at a time, and when they do begin to move through the water it is almost in slow motion. We’ve been seeing a lot of great egrets along the banks of the Mississippi River down here in Mississippi and Louisiana. They have departed their summer haunts in Minnesota in advance of the coming winter, but will remain active down here in the Delta throughout the winter months. These birds remind us of the disaster that nearly befell them and other water birds at the end of the 19 th Century. It was a time when women’s fashion decreed that hats must be adorned with plumage of all sorts, but the most elaborate and fanciful