Birding in BC Community

Here are a few photos of a Great Egret at Iona Beach today. I know this is an extremely rare bird to see here but here it is. I just submitted info to eBird also. I'm quite exited to see this and capture it for a lifer for myself. There were a number of other photogs there with me that I met. They also took some shots.

Great shots of that rarity!

Wonderful news! Thanks for sharing.

Does anyone know how rare this sighting is?

From what I know...this is the second or third sighting since 2004. eBird shows 2 separate sightings for last year and that's all. I believe this is a first time sighting for the Vancouver area...but there is not much info pertaining to past sightings.

This bird is not native to our area. A few of my Asian photog friends were with me yesterday when I first spotted the Egret at the top of the tree in the 3rd photo (which was the first photo I took among about 50 total). When they saw it they said this bird is from their country and very common there. They were very excited to actually see it here and took their photo's too.

I feel very honored to have been able to see it and capture it in some shots. Sometimes photography is that way...you can go for a while without anything and then all of a sudden you get your lifer. Yesterday must have been a good day for me as I got 2 lifers in one day. The second lifer was the Bullock's Oriole. I've been trying for 3 weeks to see the pair at the bird sanctuary and finally I hit the jackpot there. I actually only got to see the male, but that is awesome. I'll post a few shots of it later. I have to many shots to go through.

Thanks for the update.
And thanks for posting so we can see enlarged images by right clicking and opening in a new tab or page.
The bigger photos are really stunning.

For more on the range of the Great Egret, check out the Cornell website, allaboutbirds:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Egret/id
GE's do "normally" breed in Oregon and migrate into northeastern Washington. Maybe we'll start seeing more of them here.

Also have a look at Debra's Cattle Egret photo posted in this forum under Manitoba birds....
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Keith R

Thanks Keith, the info from allaboutbirds website is great...I did see this before when I was looking into the details of the Great Egret. They apparently are very common south of Oregon state and all the way over to Florida and further south. I have a friend who's parents live down in Florida who say it is common for the Egret's to come into the backyard and feed out of your hand.

I think a lot of the strange weather we are experiencing worldwide is causing a lot of bird migration patterns to be thrown off. If correct, then we may just end up seeing more of these and others in the future.

Also, apparently (according to BCrarebirdalert) the Great Egret was seen again today at Iona but apparently was flushed further south to the other side of the airport towards Terra Nova. I hope those who do go to see and photograph the Egret will respect it's space and practice good ethics when doing so.

Oh yes, Debra's Cattle Egret is awesome too...great job!!!!

Very cool find for our area!

got a shot of it too. all legs and toes, lol.

http://www.epicdevelopements.com/wp-con ... gret1a.jpg

I think I saw a Great Egret at Wreck Beach today. I'm not a birder but trying to find out what I saw led me here. It was fishing with Heron near by and at first I thought it might be an albino but now I think it was an Egret.

New on here and haven't quite figured out how to post pics yet but here's a link to some I took today.

https://www.facebook.com/davidabremner/ ... 7225890639

DavidB wrote: ↑Sep 07 8:21 pm I think I saw a Great Egret at Wreck Beach today. I'm not a birder but trying to find out what I saw led me here. It was fishing with Heron near by and at first I thought it might be an albino but now I think it was an Egret.

New on here and haven't quite figured out how to post pics yet but here's a link to some I took today.

https://www.facebook.com/davidabremner/ ... 7225890639

Yep that’s a Great Egret! We get just one or two a year here - definitely a rarity! Nice!