I’m thankful that the city of Austin has many parks and opportunities to experience nature even inside the city limits. An example of this is a small park, called Central Park, that is nestled in the middle of the Hyde Park neighborhood. This park contains a pond that rests inside a trail system, and with all its surrounding vegetation being native and well-maintained, the park provides a good example of a healthy wetland ecosystem in an urban area. This weekend I was walking on the trail there with some friends, and I spotted this majestic creature standing along the bank of the pond.
It initially caught my eye because of how white its feathers were and how it stood to be about three feet tall. I was initially unsure of the bird’s identity, but after doing some googling and deciding whether or not if it was a herron or an egret, I identified the bird as a Great Egret, or Ardea alba. I was glad that a few community users on iNaturalist confirmed this ID as well, and my iNaturalist observation can be found here.
Great Egrets are native to most wetlands in North America and as they migrate between late summer and early fall, I’m assuming this individual stopped at the pond during a long flight. More information about the Great Egret can be found here.
=