September 2005

It's the first day of September, and that means you get two calendar pages. This first one is for the whole month, and it features a great white egret in full breeding colors. Normally, the skin around the eyes is a yellow color, but during the breeding season it turns a brilliant emerald color. I don't think this has anything to do with jealousy, since both mating and no-mating firds get the same coloration. They also get long, extravagent feathers on their backsides, but you can't see that in this picture.