Lunch at the Lagoon...

[khiemtran]

I had an early start this morning, so I took a longer lunch break than normal and walked down to the lagoon, where I saw this great egret...



It was wary of me at first, then went back to its hunting...



Poor Mr Lizard. If only he'd lived a life with no egrets...



On the prowl for the next course...

Comments

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

I think of herons as having a long extended neck like that, and egrets as having all hunched up shoulders. Am I generalising from too small a sample?

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Around here there are also herons with hunched shoulders. Egrets stand out because they have that characteristically kinked neck and these great egrets are much larger than any local heron.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Poor lizards, they do seem to be the snack of choice for your avian predators.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

My hobby: taking photos of lizards and mice (and the occasional worm).

The trick is all in the framing...

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

...no egrets...

hur!

So graceful! Wonderful photos.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

It was great to be able to watch it hunt. I didn't get a good photo of it, but when it struck with its beak it was amazingly fast.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

S/he is a beauty; I love that green around the eye.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Yes, they're lovely birds. We see them quite often while kayaking, but it was nice to get a chance to get some close shots from dry land, with a better camera...

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

A lizard in the beak is worth more than two on the ground, but a lizard in the gullet is worth the most :-)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

It is actually quite interesting how easily the heron could swallow the lizard after grabbing it with the very front of its beak. I guess that must take a bit of pratice!