Great egret photos by Jonathan Schechter  June, 1st 2012

Great egrets are slowly adopting Oakland County as home.  The western end of the West Bloomfield Trail provides excellent opportunities to view these stately predators of the marshes and shallow wooded wetlands just yards from palatial homes.  On National Trails Day I explored the new section of the West Bloomfield Trail and took time out to watch this beauty hunt for frogs and fish. It was the exploitation of these magnificent  birds by plume hunters to create frilly hats for women in the late 19the century that led to many bird preservation  laws. Today egrets have full protection of Federal and State law. These photos are meant to accompany my  hiking column about the West Bloomfield Trail that appears in the June 9th print edition of The Oakland Press.