Watching an egret hunt, poor geckos!

It was rainy today, so I walked around to explore town a bit more.  The highlight was definitely watching an egret hunt in a vacant lot!

Egrets are in the same family as herons.  There are different types.  The one I saw was all white.  Likely a "great" or "intermediate" egret. No, I didn't make up these names....

Egrets usually hunt in shallow water for small fish.  But when I first saw this one, it was standing in the street. Near a parked car. Very weird to see!  Then casually it walked to a vacant lot with tall grass and some trees.  It stood still, only swaying it's neck in time with the wind and moving  branches and grass.  It seemed to be looking up to the sky.  I could imagine it saying ``I`m not looking at you, little gecko in the grass...``

Then all of a sudden!  Dead gecko in the egrets mouth!  Or maybe not dead yet.  But no longer having a good day....It took a while for the egret to swallow the gecko, but it did.  Then the egret did it all over again.  Poor little lizards!


Photos
1 - the egret really was in the street at first, right in the middle
2 - if you look very closely, you can see the gecko in the egrets mouth!
3 - Buck.  Another guest at the Villa.  He likes to clean the pool and pool deck.  I couldn`t resist this shot with his cigar and broom!
4 - some grasshoppers made from palm tree leaves.  ok. the pose isn`t really family friendly.....but it was funny!