An afternoon Egret

A Great Egret on the river near my apartment yesterday afternoon. There are several at this time of year..............

I can remember being excited by seeing egrets of any kind. The first one I  ever saw was this species: in California in 1981. My first in the UK was a Little Egret in 1987. I've seen loads around the world since then of course (and this species seems well established in the UK now) but they still seem exotic to me even now.

Not much else around. A lone female Goosander and 7 Black Kite. the latter is a very common bird in Japan but over the last few years they seem to have become much scarcer in the skies above town. These birds looked like they were heading south in what must surely be the last real mild weather of the season............