The time of Herons

 The past few days have been full of Herons and close relatives.  On the 16th I got to the ocean end of the Pumping Station Creek Track and found 2 Little Egrets and a Great Egret.  All of them had some plumes (so thoughts of Plumed Egret - previously Intermediate Egret - crossed my mind).  My usual key feature for Great Egret is the yellow gape going past the eye, but I couldn't get a decent look at that.  However the larger bird was clearly MUCH larger rather than a little bit larger so that was sorted.

In passing I will note the congenital daftness of taxonomists: a bird is known as Intermediate Egret and it is intermediate in size. So Muppets Inc. go and rename it as 'Plumed' while at least 2 other species of Egrets are adorned with plumes!  Go figure: given the PC traits of academia perhaps giving it a middling name was seen as a threat to the birds self-esteem?

Anyhow, on the 17th I was ploughing through a phone conversation with a nice lady arranging contents insurance for our place on St Kilda Rd when I got a phone alert from Frances who was out walking.  The probabilities were this meant one of two things: she had been damaged or she had found an interesting bird.  The latter was more likely so I finished the phone call as a text arrived mentioning a White-necked Heron.  The Mazda was fired up - but not excessively so as that has got expensive in the past (a ticket for 34 Plumed Whistling Ducks @ $15 each) - and I was briskly at Sunny Corner .

I think this was my first Mallacoota White-necked Heron/

Very spiffy!

Also 5 Royal Spoonbills, presumably ejected from the Broome St Lagoon as too much water driven in by the gale.

4 Australian White Ibis, with a bonus Pacific Black Duck.

2 White-faced Herons (quite common when the area is soggy).

Frances reported a Nankeen Night-Heron at the Narrows carpark so I also snapped that. I am reasonably certain a second of this species flushed, but I did 'y get a good look

We had also seen - but not photographed - an Eastern Reef Egret a little earlier.