Our trip to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal yesterday gave us this unusual scene of dancing egrets. I was shooting images of one when the second snowy egret flew in and gave us this rare glimpse into some odd behavior!
Brutal Heat and a Dancing Egrets
Not sure what was going on, but this dance continued for some time as these two beautiful aquatic birds greeted each other and engaged in this elaborate dance. My camera was set for birds in flight so I just laid on the shutter and captured 15 frames a second until the action was over with!
A Few More Birds
The heat was brutal on this day. I think it was close to 100 degrees in Aurora so many of the usual furry and feathered residents were just hiding in the woods from the blazing sun. The water birds were happy to come out and entertain us though, including this little Solitary Sandpiper. I was intent upon shooting the numerous Killdeer and didn’t notice this fellow until I was processing the images!
Red-Tailed Hawks
The red-tailed hawks also didn’t seem to mind the heat. We found two of them on the fence on Wildlife Drive. We were hoping they would fly, but they didn’t seem too eager for a lot of exertion. However, one of them leaped off the post to snag a grasshopper, which was fun to watch!
A Few More Images
Here are a few more images from the day, hope you enjoy them! If you would like a print of any of them, please feel free to visit my website!
Steven W. Krull
Photographer and author Steve Krull has been photographing and writing about the of the Colorado Rocky Mountains and it’s amazing diversity of life for over two decades. He has published thousands of images and several books including his latest novel Spirit of the Wolf.