When Liz Siivola was out for a run last week, she spotted a bird she has only seen in Wisconsin and Menominee County before, but never here in the Keweenaw. She says that the Great Egret is a rare sighting UP here and when you look at their “range map”, it seems that here in the Copper Country we’re on the very fringes of their migration route, so Liz must have been in the right place at the right time to get these shots.

The Great Egret is an elegant bird and quite a sight in many North American wetlands. The info I found online says they’re slightly smaller than a Great Blue Heron, but still large birds with an impressive wingspan. They hunt in classic heron fashion, standing still or wading through the water to capture fish with a deadly jab of the yellow bill. They thrive in shallow water, so your chances of seeing one is better if you are near a pond or a lake like Calumet Lake in the Calumet Lions Park. There were conservation movements and laws put into place to protect them, as they were hunted nearly to extinction for their plumes in the nineteenth century.

Liz actually went back to the lake several times to capture more photos of the Great Egret and was able to make a video, too. Nice job, Liz, thanks for sharing your rare sighting with us all.

Wow, Liz what a great find! Awesome photos & video
of this unexpected visitor. It may hang around for
awhile too, there was one that lingered on the river
down here well into fall last year.
The Great Egret became the emblem of the National
Audubon Society as a result of the conservation
efforts after plume hunters decimated their populations.
Nature is so resilient if we just give her a chance!

Awesome find, Liz. Great pictures, too.

Cindy, you're a wealth of information. We're sure
happy you joined us.

How stunning!! What a gorgeous bird!! I think
with climate change, we'll start seeing more birds
that aren't normal here.

Speaking of climate change, SpaceX is launching
"20 V3 Starlinks -- "super Starlinks," roughly
seven times the mass of the first-generation
models. All 20 will burn up in Earth's atmosphere
within an hour of liftoff. It is a "swarm
reentry," pre-planned by SpaceX." (off Space
weather)

(and then) If you add up the mass of all
20 satellites it comes to ~38,000 kg or about 80
times the normal daily mass of Starlinks
reentering the atmosphere. Because V3s are rich in
aluminum, their sudden reentry will create an
enormous spike in aluminum oxide deposition-- the
very compound that studies show can deplete the
ozone layer.


I second Deb's comment...Thrilled you joined us
Cindy!

Hi
Whether they are rare or not, it'd be cool to see an
egret.