While shooting birds in Audubon Park recently, I spotted four
couples of great egrets. It was a welcome and unexpected sight. Until two years
ago, the island in Audubon Park lagoon was covered this time of year with
nesting egrets. Then a film crew arrived in the park with noise, bustle, and
lights to shoot nocturnal scenes for
Abraham
Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, one of the stupidest movies ever made and a
well-deserved box office flop. All that commotion disturbed the sleep of the egrets,
who apparently decided “there goes the neighborhood” and disappeared overnight.
That was in 2011. I hadn’t spotted more than the occasional egret in the park
since then and lamented their absence. I am hoping my sighting of the four couples signals a return en masse to their island.
