Ibis, egrets & herons
The salt marsh runs a shift system: herons stalking the creeks at low tide, egrets flashing white against the green, and ibis commuting in ragged Vs at dusk.
Stand on a marsh boardwalk at low tide and count the hunting styles: great egrets frozen mid-stride like lawn ornaments that occasionally strike, little herons working the creek banks, and white ibis sweeping their curved bills through the mud like metal detectors.
The real spectacle is the evening roost. As the light goes gold, wading birds funnel from every corner of the marsh into a few favored trees, stacking themselves onto branches until the canopy looks snow-covered. The owner’s photographs of the dusk rookery on this page were taken from a respectful distance with a long lens, which is the entire technique.
Pair a marsh walk with the dawn recording at the bird sanctuary; the soundtrack and the view are two halves of the same show.
