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 19th 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 with the long, flowing breeding plumes known as aigrettes. These were found on the great egret, a bird that stands three feet tall, with long black legs, an all-white body and a deadly sharp, yellow bill.    

Fortunately, there were a number of high society ladies who also loved birds and when they were made aware of the uncontrolled slaughter (more than 95 percent of the great egrets in North America), they became activists and ultimately stopped the trade in feathers of all migratory birds.  They also established the Massachusetts Audubon Society in 1896 and took the great egret as their symbol.  The National Audubon Society evolved from this group and still has the great egret as its symbol. Because these Victorian ladies took action, in 1918 the government enacted the Migratory Bird Treaty Act which to this day protects all migratory birds in North America. A great lesson in the power of knowledgeable and concerned voters.

Egrets and herons nest in colonies called ‘rookeries’.  We have an excellent example right along I35 where it crosses the Snake River by Pine City.  Look on the west side and you will see a cluster of very tall trees and at the tops of these are the big stick nests of the great blue herons.  They are easiest to see in the winter when all the leaves have fallen.  Very often these types of rookeries will have a mix of both herons and egrets nesting at different levels.  They are noisy, smelly places, as you might imagine. When you come close to them in a boat (because they are normally surrounded by water), you almost feel as though you’ve slipped back into prehistory when pterodactyl’s still flew. 

From the deck of the boat, we watch great egrets fly up and down the river’s edge.  They pull in their snaky neck and stick their long legs out behind, and with slow, steady beats flap through the hazy, humid air. There is a stretch of the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans (about 85 miles long) that is known as ‘Cancer Alley’.  Close to 150 plastic plants, oil refineries and other chemical plants are located on either side of the river, which means there are more in this small area than anywhere else in the United States.  Greenpeace has labled it a Global Toxic Hotspot.  We know that industrial accidents and accidental releases are inevitable and a common occurrences here. High concentrations of dioxin, a known carcinogen, have been found in both the soil and air throughout Cancer Alley. The people who live along this stretch of river are aware of the threats to their health, but the majority are poor and less well educated,  and have little recourse when up against the megacorporation’s that operate these plants.

I think about the egrets that stand along the water’s edge with a forest of smokestacks, pipes and holding tanks behind them and wonder what they are eating out of these muddy waters.  The contrast between their slender snowy silhouettes and those of the gargantuan towers behind them are hard to reconcile. I guess it shows the tenacity of life and how the other creatures we share this planet with have been forced to adapt to our world. 

I think back to those ladies who loved birds and took action to save them and wonder: do we as a nation have the will and determination to change our ways, so that we and all God’s creatures can live in an environment free of  polluted rivers and deadly chemicals?


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sense of Place

Image
GOING NATURE’S WAY By Kate Crowley I am intrigued by the idea of Sense of Place; to feel completely ‘at home’ in one particular place.  I have read that people who grow up on the Great Plains feel claustrophobic when they are in forested environments and in reverse,  people who have grown up surrounded by forest find the openness of the plains unnerving, with nothing to break the view to the horizon. I grew up in the city, but the Minnehaha Creek and Parkway were just two blocks away and I spent countless hours playing and exploring there.  The city lakes were within biking distance. The Mississippi River was just blocks away from the apartment where I lived the first four years of my life.  When I was 36 I married Mike and moved to our current home and it was perfect.  When my dad first visited us in our new home, he said, “Kate must think she’s died and gone to heaven”.  This is where I am supposed to be.  Scientists who have studied the e...
Read more

The Munger Trail - Willow River to Moose Lake

Image
The Willard Munger Trail - named for one of the environmental heroes of MN is our neighborhood bike trail and the place I get my biking exercise and conditioning.  I thought it would be good to share some of its highlights and pleasures.  So here is a look at the trail and what I enjoy. The small towns that prospered during the days when the trail was a railroad track and the country moved by Steam Engine are just a shadow of what they used to be, but that shadow is filled with surprises and fun places to explore if you give yourself the time to engage in the setting, as well as the peddling.  Willow River is our little home town and the Mercantile is over 100 years old and still meets many of our needs.  It is a place for refreshments and Peggy Sue's is a local restaurant that makes a great lunch or dinner stop. There is also a local park that provides you with a sense of the RR past. The trail is very straight like most RR grades and lacks hills except ...
Read more

Rain threatens birds

Image
WINGIN’ IT By Kate Crowley As the floodwaters recede, a stunned and relieved populace can finally stop holding their collective breath. Throughout southern Carlton County and all of Pine County there is a sense of disbelief that only four years after a major flood event, it has happened again.  At our home we measured over 8” of rain in less than 24 hours. This is what the word deluge was meant to describe. Others said it felt like they were in the middle of a monsoon. Thankfully there was no loss of life in our region, but property damage and loss was significant for people who have in some cases finally recovered and remodeled after the flood of 2012, which was said to be a once in 100 years flood when 8 to 10 inches of rain were spread over three days. Here in Willow River, there was fear that the small dam holding back the waters of the river would fail, with catastrophic results. Roads throughout the two counties (and into Wisconsin) were hard hit and the cost to re...
Read more