It was a gorgeous afternoon, so I decided to take a hike at Fort Hill. I didn’t expect to be see anything new as it was later in the day, but I brought my camera, just in case. (Click on blog link for other photos.)

As I was heading down the trail, I scared an Egret nearby. It flew across the meadow. What was an Egret doing in the meadow at Fort Hill?

And then I remembered seeing one here a while back when I had the same thought. In doing some research, it was a Cattle Egret and very rare to see around here. I did a bit more research and realized I’d only seen a Cattle Egret here twice before, in 2017 and 2021. Wow!

The Cattle Egret is “known for its unique habit of foraging in dry grasslands and pastures, often following livestock to eat insects stirred up by their movement,” thus getting its name, Cattle Egret. Have you ever seen one? What a treat!

I stopped in The Bird Watcher’s Store and Mike, the owner, was most impressed! He said you never see them around here!