In the High Island (Texas) Smith Oaks Rookery, by the end of the first week in April, most female egrets were sitting on eggs. This female took a break from incubating the next generation of egrets to preen her feathers. Note her protective posture over three blue eggs. Taken with the Nikon D4 with 800mm Nikkor at f5.6 and 1/1600th of a second on a heavily overcast day. While the dark skies made catching birds in flight somewhat difficult, the lack of harsh shadows created a soft light that made this photo somehow seem more intimate.
