Great Egrets: York County, Maine, USA, August 2023 — After seeing some of Jack Coughlin’s photos of of Egrets and Herons taken at the mouth of one of our local rivers, just a few miles down the road from me, I took my trike out yesterday at low tide to see what I could see. I have never, in my 30 years (more or less) on the Maine Coast seen such a large concentration of Egrets and Herons as the one I found on a sandbar just back from the river mouth yesterday. There were at least 20 Great and 20 Snowy Egrets, and two Great Blue Herons. There were so may fish fry in the shallow water it seemed to boil and birds were actively feeding…but there was also a lot of bird on bird interaction as they competed for the best spots…or that is how it looked to me. With so many birds gathered it may have just been a dominance thing. ?? I have a whole set of shots of this particular interaction, but this one captures the energy. Great Egrets are generally the most elegant of birds, calm, full of steady purpose, especially in Maine, and at least in Maine, generally solitary. I have only ever seen them act this way in the pools at Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge in Florida in early spring when they gather for the shrimp hatch. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f9 @ 1/1000th. -.7EV.