Birds, birds, birds

Lately I've been spotting a lot of really cool birds down here. The most frequent are Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons, both so incredably prehistoric-looking. I'm just so intrigued by them! Both are very large birds, being the largest of the egret and heron species. There are a lot of man-made ponds and lakes around here, and occasionally you will find them standing along the waterline watching for fish, and they always look fake. Below is a Great Egret that just perched itself on a palm tree overlooking the pond.

Apparently, when Great Blue Herons are fishing, they try to be as sneaky as possible, and literally "tip-toes" up on the fish. It does a little side-step move, moving closer and closer to the fish, and when it grabs the fish it barelly has to even rush. It just swoops right in and there is this nice fishy in the mouth, its life already flashing before its eyes.

"Gulp!"

Neotropic Cormorants also frequent here this time of year. I have only ever seen cormorants on the coast and thought they were strictly coastal birds... Shows how much I know about birds...