Cattle Egret
I have a habit of shooting first and asking ID questions later. It’s a good habit to have.
This is a classic example – I spent a day driving around L’Aquila in Italy, stopping again and again to take poor distant photographs of Common Buzzards. I was almost immune to their charms when we stopped one more time and a large bird of prey flew past fast. I almost didn’t bother raising my camera, but did so as a reflex. Checking the back of my camera (or ‘chimping’ as it’s known) I saw that I’d just photographed a Golden Eagle:
Sitting in the hide at Seaton Wetlands I saw yet another Egret flying along the river, just like all the other Little Egrets which frequent the banks of the River Axe. Despite feeling a fool for taking yet another distant photo of a Little Egret in poor light, I raised my camera and take the shot.
It was a Cattle Egret:
