Great Egret stalking the shallows
Ardea alba
Great Egret · Green-Wood Cemetery · 25 May 2026
A Great Egret working the waterline of the Green-Wood lake in late May at a deliberate, almost frame-by-frame walk. Great Egrets nest in colonies on the harbour islands and fish every park lake in the city through the summer.
The strike, when it comes, is essentially a spring uncoiling: the S-curve permanently held in a heron's neck lets it snap the head forward far faster than a simple muscular lunge could manage, covering the last foot or so to the prey in a fraction of a second. The all-yellow bill and black legs separate it from the smaller Snowy Egret, and in late May the green skin between bill and eye is a sign of breeding.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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