Good, if Goofy, Day at the Ponds

I love to see the sunshine on the wings of the Dragonflies... 

there is magic in it. 

~ Ama H. Vanniarachchy

While running errands I glanced over and saw a field dotted with Cattle Egrets - no cattle, just egrets. "What's going on?" I wondered. So, I turned down the lane towards the ponds and immediately saw more egrets - with cattle this time. [This was the largest number of Cattle Egrets we have seen here, I think - 37. Well, maybe not. We may have seen 40 some-odd earlier in the summer. Whatever, they were close enough to get a good look.]

The car startled the egrets and the cows.

The Cattle Egrets flew up and looked as if they would move across the road.

I watched them circle around and settle with the cattle once again.

Maybe it's just the short necks, but they look so awkward.

I love Cattle Egrets. They are endearingly goofy-looking.

Doves in the dead tree. One never knows what will be perched there.

Once there I figured I should make the whole circuit. I should not have bothered. The ponds are drying up. One has a serious algae bloom. The other egrets were a good distance away in what we call the back pond. There definitely were egrets, but it was difficult even with binoculars, to determine which were which. A few Great Egrets were slightly separated from the crowd, but I gave up trying for a count.

Party is in the far pond.

The turtles were out, hoping for a little sun.

And on this log, there were some turtles, the prettiest turtles....

And the dragonflies zipped over all.