Little Egret in early morning

Now that the Loop season is in full swing I have been making early morning excursions back and forth to the Loop.  On the way I regularly stop off at Moyasta Creek at Poulnasherry Bay to search for waders.  One morning in the last week this Little Egret was so busy feeding she allowed me to drive up close and get the following series of shots.

 

Little Egret at Moyasta John N Murphy

 

Little Egret

I was back in North Mayo yesterday where this Little Egret was actively feeding in a stream outlet that ran into the middle of the bay.  The bird was an excellent fisherman catching lots of small fish and shrimp.

 Little Egret, Killala Bay © John N Murphy

Little Egret

This young Little Egret has spent the last week or so feeding along the rock pools at Seafield, Quilty.  Little Egrets are scarce in this part of the county and it is the first bird that I can recall spending so much time at this location.

Little Egret fishing in rock pools © John N Murphy

Little Egret

This Little Egret was feeding along the shore at Black Rock in Kerry yesterday.  Its bright yellow legs reminded me of how similar they are to Snowy Egret from the US and I keep wondering how long will it be before we see our first Snowy Egret arrive in Ireland.

Little Egret

I was back in search of the White-winged Scoter at Rossbeigh, County Kerry again yesterday.  This time we struck gold and got distant views of the bird about 3-400 meters out in the bay. We were lucky that the sea was calm and everyone who travelled to see the bird got respectable views throughout the day.  This bird is a first Irish record and thought to be of the Siberian race Melanitta stejnegeri and not North American Melanitta deglandi as first predicted.  While in the area we went to see the Spoonbill again and I got shots of this Little Egret in the same pool where the Spoonbill fed.

Little Egret coming into breeding plumage

Adult Spoonbill seen feeding with the Little Egret