Sometimes it takes a village to find & keep track of a bird. A Cattle Egret showed up in RI on Sunday (first time in 2 years). Patrick Felker spotted it flying over Ninigret Pond (which took more skill than I have), Chris Vealerelocated it on a Cattle Farm in Matunuck - but it flew and no one saw it again on Sunday. Yesterday the intrepid Sue Palmer found it again, but again it flew. Tim Metcalf and I showed up, after talking to Sue we all took off in different directions to try to relocate the elusive bird. About 5 minutes later I got the call -- it was back where Sue first spotted it. I returned and we all saw the bird.
We were standing in the driveway of this farm taking photos and trying to keep the bird in sight. A Mom walked up with her @6 year old (Iris)and asked what we saw -- she & her daughter love birds. When we offered them our binoculars she was overwhelmed with gratitude. They saw the bird and Mom insisted on taking our picture with Iris. They were both very joyful - as were we!
Then the Farmer drove up. Told us the bird had been there for a few weeks (where had we been?) and Sue started up a conversation with him and got him to let us on the property. He showed us a video of the egret attacking a turkey about a week ago. Clearly there are birds we are missing because we are not stalking the Cow fields - we were assured that there have been Cattle Egrets there every year. They were lovely interesting people with beautiful cows.
Yesterday was another day that is why I love, Love, LOVE birds & birding!
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