Last week, we had an unusual visitor for a suburban garden. We suspect it's not his first visit because some of the goldfish are gone from the pond! We thought it was an egret but we couldn't find it in our "Book of Australian Birds". I emailed Birding Services Brisbane and got a fast reply from Roy - it's a "white-faced heron which is very common and widespread throughout Australia. They do love goldfish and it is quite remarkable how they manage to find ponds with them in". This is unfortunate because the fish eat the mosquito larvae population! Guess WM is going to have to put mesh over his pond!BTW, if you want to see some more photos of Australian birds, pop over to Roy's website.
Oh, he is a beauty! We used to stock our pond in NY with fish and the blue heron would steal all the fish-they used to drive my son crazy! I have never seen that kind-thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteSo that is what they are called. I have always called them Egrets.
ReplyDeleteSo from the Lake to the Pond. Maybe the lakes have no more fish. LOL.