Black and white...

And this is not what you imagine when you hear "black and white". I mean it's definitely about black and white, but about white and black birds, not about movies, photos or chessboards ;) And these birds are black and white in their own beautiful way.

 

Look at this stunning Snow Egret. Relatively small wader with pure white plumage, black legs and yellow feet. It flies gracefully and slowly...

And here is our old friend - Double Crested Cormorant. Just surfaced with a fish in its beak. Now it looks completely satisfied with its life ;)

But the white beauty is different. Instead of swimming, it prefers to roam the shallow water and look for something delicious...

Black and white, just as promised :)

The Egrets were choosy and didn't catch as much as the cormorants. They moved slowly and carefully in the water...

I wondered what they were looking for and then I saw it - crayfish! I wouldn’t mind having one for breakfast myself! Snow Egrets have a great taste in food ;)

Another black one - Red Winged Blackbird. There were several of them, but they mostly stayed in the dark shadow. So only one agreed to pose for me.

But some birds were too shy to be photographed. They flew away before I could get my camera ready...

The Egrets looked amazing in flight. But when they landed they seemed less confident ;)

"Where is my breakfast? Where is it?"

Another Red Winged Blackbird. Females are not really black...

 

But cormorants are, black and loud when they land on the water with a huge splash.

Black-crowned Night-Heron. This bird is nocturnal and wasn't really interested in having breakfast as all other species. They all stayed on the island in the middle of the lake and didn't give me many opportunities to take pictures of them.

Another landing, with all the feathers fluffed up ;)

And let's end the story with some black birds (since we started with white ones) - cormorants are communal creatures and like to stay in the crowd... And chat with their friends :)

...or to look at the photographer with some reproach...

Pictures were taken on April 23, 2023.