A Hair-Raising Intrusion

The Snowy Egret is a favorite photographic subject of mine because of its feathery beauty, its masterful Tai Chi-like grace while hunting.

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I’m sure, though, it’s prey must have a very different image of the bird, and I’ll find it difficult to ever see just that aspect of the egret after taking this sequence of shots.

I was watching this egret fishing, waiting for it to strike a graceful hunting pose. I certainly didn’t expect this.

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Faster than a Canon can focus, it flew to the top of the dam to confront another Snowy Egret that had dared to intrude on its personal fishing hole.

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The intruder obligingly left the scene

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which normally defuses the conflict and the winner is content to go back to hunting, but this Snowy Egret didn’t seem content at all,

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pursuing the offender until they were both long out of sight.

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Apparently it takes more than beauty and grace to thrive in the real world, unless, of course, we expand our definition of beauty and grace.