I was at the "pelican spot" this afternoon on Riley Roberts Road on Deal Island and spotted one adult White Ibis. I stayed there for about an hour watching the hordes of ducks, swans (at least 4 MUTE swans among the TUNDRA swans) . There were two smaller egrets hanging out with the Ibis but they were just too far away for me to ID them. Mark Shilling (sp?) arrived and we both tried to figure out what these birds were. They were tucked down in the grass and we couldn't see their legs.

Mark left and I drove down to the end of the road, not seeing anything of note. On the way back, there were three GREAT EGRETS right by the road, trying to hide behind some trees. When I turned back into the small parking lot, I couldn't find the IBIS but then looked left and had a nice surprise.

There were now 14 GREAT EGRETS with the IBIS and his two mystery sidekicks. There were still a ways off but eventually they all flew up and landed directly across from me and much closer. The mystery birds were immature LITTLE BLUE HERONS. Mark and I thought we could see a grayish bill with a darker tip and now that was quite clear. The legs were a pale greenish-yellow with no bright yellow feet.

A lovely day to be out.

Anna Urciolo
Rockville, MD

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