Egret with a frog.

As I was driving out of the park after my morning walkabout I spotted an egret. They do come into this area of New Jersey around now. This was the first sighting of the season for me so obviously I stopped, jumped out of my car and began shooting.

As I watched I noticed something was in its mouth…a frog. It began walking away from the road and down into the drained pond through the mud and shallow waters. It began to thrash its head toward the muddy bottom sending mud and water into the air. Lifting the frog up ,mud flinging everywhere, and then back down, the egret repeated this process several times. The frog immobilized the egret walked along the shallow waters edge to a nice quiet location where breakfast could be served.

It is these unexpected moments that drive me to continue to get out and see what I can see. It may be a day where after an hour on the trail or water I see nothing but back at the car an eastern blue bird lands on the tree right in front of my car with the sun and shadows hit it just right or a kingfisher lands on a tree limb right at the launch. It’s these moments that I freeze for ever and share with the world. I hope that they can motivate others to get out there and find their moments and maybe capture them and share.