Wednesday, January 21, 2009

A Big White Bird



Today at school, after the bell rang, a group of students were stood around the window at the back of my room enthralled by whatever they saw. I could hear them saying something about a bird, so I went back there to get them to sit down, thinking that I've seen birds back there too and that it wasn't any big deal. Lake Perris sits in that direction and I have even seen hawks sitting on the fence outside my window.

This time outside my window, a tall white bird (I thought it was a white Ibis, but I have looked it up on Google and this wasn't the same species), strutted slowly about. This type of bird is common at Lake Perris and I have seen them flying over head many times, but never standing this close up.

It stood about three feet tall, maybe four, with long black legs. It was pure white with a long, straight yellow bill. The bird it most resembled would be the Great White Heron, picture above. But those don't go far beyond the Florida Keys. Also, I think Great Whites are bigger than this.

I went out and tried to shoo it over the fence back into its own territory, but it would just fly away a few feet ahead of me. I worried about what might happen if kids saw it during break. But, hey it wouldn't cooperate with me, so I went back to class.

8 comments:

Billy Canary said...

Snowy Egret.

Brother Atom Bomb of Reflection said...

Yes! That's the one I couldn't think of. I loke up crane, ibis, stork, and heron...but I new I was missing one.

Donita Curioso said...

Or maybe a common egret. I know a common thing isn't as romantic as a snowy thing but common is what we gots around here. I'll look it up.

Donita Curioso said...

Snowy black beak, common yellow beak.

Brother Atom Bomb of Reflection said...

Still, it was pretty beautiful to see.

Donita Curioso said...

Well, no one said common ain't pretty.

Once, in Santa Rosa, I was marveling at the beauty of a Blue Heron as it flew through the air. I was saying, "Oh, just look at you, you gorgeous thing."

And then it released an enormous stream of liquid shit which I am sure nailed a few cars when it landed.

Brother Atom Bomb of Reflection said...

Once, while bicycling around Oswego, NY, I rode over a bridge above a small stream and rolled right by what I think was a blue heron. I was very close and it was so quick and sudden that the heron didn't really have time to reacte. But I got a pretty good glimpse of him.

Anonymous said...

I came across this blog of yours because I'm in search of a beautiful white bird I saw late last night. I was walking my dog, about 12:30 AM, and I saw a little glimpse of something over a rooftop. It frightened me at first. And then it rose further up, and it was beautiful, pure white. I live in Vegas, so we're in a middle of a desert. I didn't know what it was. I thought it was a swan or something. Beautiful, and long, I don't remember if it had black legs or a yellow beak, but I just remember that it was so graceful and flew right over my head. :D Who knows, I'm still trying to figure out what kind of bird it was. When I got back to the house, I told my husband, and he immediately said, "Are you smoking crack?" haha. Sounded crazy, but I know what I saw.