All this week as I drove to work I noticed an Egret down by the New River. Some mornings he would be on the boat pier and others he would be on a pole or the grass on the opposite bank. Every evening though he would be sat on the grassy bank opposite the park with a group of people fishing from the bank. As I observed him every evening it occurred to me that he perhaps hung out with the fishermen because they were kindred spirits but I suspected that it was more likely that the fishermen fed him, and he knew when he was onto a good thing. Yesterday I remembered to grab my camera bag as I left the house and as things were fairly quiet I took a lunch break. I grabbed myself a biscuit and some fries and proceeded to the Riverwalk Park behind the jail. (I know the location sounds suspect but it really is lovely.) As luck would have it the Egret was not there so I spent some time taking photos of the seagulls who were as well as the Muskovy ducks. Whenever I see a Muskovy duck I always think of the "Ugly Duckling" song (even though that is about a swan). But, Muskovy's are downright ugly, but they are almost comical because of it. I told a joke and this guy thought it was funny at least.



Shortly after they had walked by me, Father, Mother and young 'un decided it was bath time and went for a swim in the river. As you can see here there was a great deal of splashing going on.



From then it was a matter of preening the feathers to get them just right. It was obviously a very intricate task and required a great deal of attention.



I returned to take some more shots of the seagulls and noticed this daredevil, I could just see him saying to myself "ha, I laugh in the face of danger"



Lunchtime was over so it was time to go back to work but I was determined to go back after work. As I returned to the pier to my delight the Egret arrived, scattering the seagulls as he did so.



He then proceeded to claim the pier as his own. It was quite amusing to watch him. Obviously his size helped but he also used a variety of other tactics to assist in his quest. First up he preened himself, very obviously trying to make himself appear bigger, why I am not sure as he was easily ten times the size of the biggest seagull but he appeared to think that it helped.



The next technique he used was absolutely hilarious, it reminded me very much of the "Snoopy vulture pose" which I am sure you will be familiar with, it seemed to be very effective as the seagulls gave him a wide berth.



The sunlight was weakening and the seagulls really wanted to come in to roost but they weren't going to get passed the Egret, he checked out every angle.



And then, for what reason I do not know, whether it was another seagull scaring tactic or just for the joy of it the Egret began to dance.









As he was dancing I noticed to my dismay that a boat was coming in to the pier, which of course meant he would stop dancing and be leaving for the other bank. Of course I was correct.



I followed him and drove my car around to the fishing bank. He stood watching the fishermen, waiting for someone to catch something they didn't want. According to one of them he will not eat bait or anything dead, he prefers his dinner live. He was very relaxed in the company of the fishermen, and he allowed me to get quite close to take some more shots.



I thought this was interesting, he appeared to be reading the sign and thinking "where am I going to keep a license?"



The light was going and I decided it was time to get home to my critters so I left the Egret with his buddies, waiting patiently for his supper. What a great day it was.