Figure 1 – Great egret, Salem National Maritime Historic Site. (c) DE Wolf 2020.

With the start of summer the great egrets (Ardea alba) have returned to the Salem wetland. The one in Figure 1 was photographed along the beach by Derby Wharf. They are such a beautiful and elegant sight, a kind of gift from nature. I have generally found egrets hard to photograph, hard to bring the knowing, yet reptilian eye into sharp focus. But here I succeeded with my wonderful 70 too 200 mm L Lens.

I have read that there are 180,000 breeding great egrets in North America. That represents a return of the breed and is wonderful. However, a dear friend pointed out something to me. Humans were meant to stand amidst thousands of herons and egrets – to be literally dazzled by their elegant ballet and to hear the thunder of their flight. We have allowed ourselves to be reduced joyfully pursuing the rare and the few. We have diminished ourselves. We have squander what was meant to be our legacy!

Canon T2i with EF 70-200 f/4l USM lens at 200 mm, ISO 800, Aperture Priority AE Mode 1/4000th sec at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation.