OCEAN SPRINGS &mdash A brake-screeching, eye-popping scene greets travelers on Shearwater Drive when 80 to 100 great egrets come to roost as the sun sets. Each night for the past week, the 3-foot-tall white feathered ghosts have dotted the trees north of the bridge.
No one knows how long this spectacle will continue. The rare sight is likely a result of unusually cold weather causing minnows — a favorite food of these long-legged birds — to congregate in marshy land not far from the harbor.
"The egrets are normally scattered across the Coast, so we don't usually see them in such great numbers," said Ronnie Blackwell, Sun Herald birding columnist. "There is likely some food source that is bringing them together."
"The birds themselves don't feel the cold but whatever they are eating may. The egrets are very well insulated but the fish might have gotten in to the area to escape.
The fish congregation literally forms a buffet line for the hungry egrets, and Jack Mangin has witnessed their feasting.
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