On Sun, 7 Feb 2010 18:54:39 EST, ~ jan wrote:

On Sun, 7 Feb 2010 18:31:12 EST, Galen Hekhuis
wrote:

I'm sitting here sort of slack-jawed, looking out over the pond,
trying to get my motor running this morning, when this giant bird
lands not 15 feet from me and decides to check out the pond also. It's
kinda cold here (low 40s) and I have the sliding doors closed, so I'm
pretty sure the bird didn't see me. In any event, it flew off as I
tried to get a camera out, but not before I was able to note things
like the color of the beak (yellow-orange), the legs (black), and the
feet (also dark). I grabbed my Peterson Guide to Eastern Birds and
found that it is most likely a Great Egret (as opposed to a Mediocre
Egret, I suppose). I don't know much about it, except that it's in
the heron family and it doesn't seem to eat much duckweed.
.
That's fascinating, most people note the color of the bird itself. ;-)

Do you think that might be why I have such a hard time identifying
birds?

OK, it was a big *white* bird.
..