Tri-colored Herons, with their contrasting colors and animated behavior were fun to watch as they foraged in several shallow ponds around the island, often raising their wings, lunging, or turning sharply as they hunted for fish.

Three Greater Yellowlegs were too far away to photograph, but we watched them through a scope as they moved quickly, chasing fish through the water – tall, grayish birds with white bellies and long, slightly upturned bills, at first they look rather drab in winter plumage. But their bright yellow legs, active personalities and lively teew-teew-teew calls make them colorful.

Northern Harriers swept over the orange-brown grass of the marshes, Belted Kingfishers hunted from snags, and twice in the late afternoons, we saw several White Ibis fly up and away, silent, ghostly silhouettes with black-tipped wings and down-curved bills. And in the marshes and ponds and just about everywhere Great Egrets stalked and flew and posed – no less impressive for being so often around.