Recently, I made a pointless trip to Florida to trade in a Class B campervan. The plan had been for me to drive down alone (well, with our two dogs, Frankie and Lucy), pick up the new van, leave the old van, and then meet Seddon in Jacksonville so that we could drive back to NH together. Every aspect of the plan went like clockwork except for the missing title to our old van. It had been purchased used from the same RV dealer in a different city a few months ago. The dealer had assured me that they would have the title so “come on down!” So I did…and now we are back in NH with the old van waiting for the title to arrive.

But, here’s the lemonade part. We spent six nights on the road - every one of them in either a lovely state park, or a national park or, best of all, at a Harvest Hosts participating winery or farm. Harvest Hosts is a member organization ($75.00 per year) in which wineries, breweries, farms, golf courses, and restaurants agree to offer free overnight RV parking on their property - usually with the expectation that visitors will spend a little money. We spent our final night in upstate Gardiner, NY, at the Wright Family Farm, established in 1905 and shipping 100,000 bushels of apples each year. We were parked on a hilltop in the middle of apple and cherry orchards. We felt transported in time to a nearby farm in Woodstock, NY, including the live music enjoyed over a craft beer.

Oh, this is a bird blog not a travel blog - I almost forgot. And that’s another reason that I have no regrets about this “pointless” trip. Places like the Blue Spring State Park in Florida (winter home of the Manatees), and Crooked River State Park just over the Georgia state line, and Carolina Beach State Park in Wilmington, NC, and Wilderness Run Vineyards in Spotsylvania, VA, were teeming with bird life. I especially liked the southern state parks because of the presence of different populations than we have during early summer in New Hampshire. And I am particularly fond of the egrets - the white ones. Here at home we see their great blue heron cousins regularly now, but the white egrets are not common in northern New England - at least in our backyard.

The great egret with its yellow bill and black legs and the smaller snowy egret with its black bill are found in every continent except Antarctica. They are partially migratory moving north in their range in summer and further south when it’s cold. Unlike our herons, they tend to nest in colonies called rookeries in stick built platform nests often among birds of other species.

Usually attired in stately white, during mating season the great egret transforms a patch of facial skin to neon green and sports long plume-like feathers called aigrettes along his back. In the 19th century these egret plumes were highly sought as adornments for women’s hats - nearly wiping out the species. This may be partly the reason that the great egret is the symbol of the National Audubon Society - not to mention found on the Brazilian 5 real banknote, the New Zealand $2 coin, the Hungarian 5 forint coin, and a commemorative coin in Belarus.

By now you know my affection for the poems of Mary Oliver. Here’s one about egrets.

Egrets

Where the path closed
down and over,
through the scumbled leaves,
fallen branches,
through the knotted catbrier,
I kept going. Finally
I could not
save my arms
from thorns; soon
the mosquitoes
smelled me, hot
and wounded, and came
wheeling and whining.
And that’s how I came
to the edge of the pond:
black and empty
except for a spindle
of bleached reeds
at the far shore
which, as I looked,
wrinkled suddenly
into three egrets – – –
a shower
of white fire!
Even half-asleep they had
such faith in the world
that had made them – – –
tilting through the water,
unruffled, sure,
by the laws
of their faith not logic,
they opened their wings
softly and stepped
over every dark thing.