Eric Gofreed
Well-Known Member
This week’s theme is wide open—anything with wings is fair game! What’s been fluttering, flapping, or soaring through your part of the world? Birds, bugs, bats, butterflies, if it takes to the air, it’s welcome here.
Wading birds are long-legged hunters of the shallows, expertly stalking fish, insects, and amphibians in marshes and wetlands. This week, I’m focusing solely on egrets—birds that stand out for their grace and beauty. North America is home to four distinct egret species, each with its own unique plumage, personality, and preferred habitat. Next week, I’ll turn the spotlight on some of North America’s more unusual wading birds.
Shallow Water Hunter: Silent and statuesque, the Great Egret stands in still, shallow water, watchful and poised. With deliberate steps and unwavering focus, it waits for just the right flicker of movement. In an instant, it strikes, its slender bill darting like a spear to seize a fish in one fluid motion.
Unusual Vantage: Perched on the edge of a metal dock at a fish hatchery pond, this Great Egret takes an uncommon approach. Most hunt while wading, but here, it’s using the manmade platform like a watchtower—stalking stocked fish with sharp eyes and even sharper timing. A clever adaptation in an artificial landscape.
Precision in Flight: This moment is rare and remarkable: a Great Egret flying low over a school of fish, striking mid-air with pinpoint accuracy. Typically a still hunter, the egret shows off its versatility, plucking prey from the surface without ever landing. It's a dazzling display of instinct, agility, and split-second timing.
Snowy Egret: Laser Focused
The Snowy Egret is a high-energy hunter, known for darting through shallow water with quick, purposeful steps. Unlike its more patient cousins, it uses motion and agility to flush out prey, flashing its wings or trailing its vivid yellow feet just above the surface, even in flight. These bright feet act as lures, startling fish and crustaceans from hiding. Clever and opportunistic, the Snowy Egret thrives in salt marshes, tidal flats, and estuaries, where constant movement turns the hunt into a graceful performance.
The Reddish Egret is my favorite wading bird. They are the showmen of the shoreline, known for their wild, dance-like hunting style. Unlike the stately Great Egret, it dashes, spins, and leaps through shallow coastal waters, wings outstretched like umbrellas to shade the surface and flush prey into striking range. It thrives in salt flats, lagoons, and tidal pools, where open space and clear water set the stage for its athletic performance. The rarest egret in North America, it’s mostly found along the Gulf Coast and parts of Florida.
The Cattle Egret has charted a different course from its wetland kin, often found far from water as it trails livestock or tractors across open fields. Instead of stalking prey in still waters, it shadows large animals, seizing insects, frogs, and small reptiles flushed from the grass. This clever strategy offers a steady supply of food with minimal effort. Originally native to Africa, the Cattle Egret arrived in the Americas in the 20th century and quickly spread. Today, it thrives in pastures, agricultural fields, and roadside ditches—anywhere disturbance stirs up a meal.
Wading birds are long-legged hunters of the shallows, expertly stalking fish, insects, and amphibians in marshes and wetlands. This week, I’m focusing solely on egrets—birds that stand out for their grace and beauty. North America is home to four distinct egret species, each with its own unique plumage, personality, and preferred habitat. Next week, I’ll turn the spotlight on some of North America’s more unusual wading birds.
Shallow Water Hunter: Silent and statuesque, the Great Egret stands in still, shallow water, watchful and poised. With deliberate steps and unwavering focus, it waits for just the right flicker of movement. In an instant, it strikes, its slender bill darting like a spear to seize a fish in one fluid motion.
Unusual Vantage: Perched on the edge of a metal dock at a fish hatchery pond, this Great Egret takes an uncommon approach. Most hunt while wading, but here, it’s using the manmade platform like a watchtower—stalking stocked fish with sharp eyes and even sharper timing. A clever adaptation in an artificial landscape.
Precision in Flight: This moment is rare and remarkable: a Great Egret flying low over a school of fish, striking mid-air with pinpoint accuracy. Typically a still hunter, the egret shows off its versatility, plucking prey from the surface without ever landing. It's a dazzling display of instinct, agility, and split-second timing.
Snowy Egret: Laser Focused
The Snowy Egret is a high-energy hunter, known for darting through shallow water with quick, purposeful steps. Unlike its more patient cousins, it uses motion and agility to flush out prey, flashing its wings or trailing its vivid yellow feet just above the surface, even in flight. These bright feet act as lures, startling fish and crustaceans from hiding. Clever and opportunistic, the Snowy Egret thrives in salt marshes, tidal flats, and estuaries, where constant movement turns the hunt into a graceful performance.
The Reddish Egret is my favorite wading bird. They are the showmen of the shoreline, known for their wild, dance-like hunting style. Unlike the stately Great Egret, it dashes, spins, and leaps through shallow coastal waters, wings outstretched like umbrellas to shade the surface and flush prey into striking range. It thrives in salt flats, lagoons, and tidal pools, where open space and clear water set the stage for its athletic performance. The rarest egret in North America, it’s mostly found along the Gulf Coast and parts of Florida.
The Cattle Egret has charted a different course from its wetland kin, often found far from water as it trails livestock or tractors across open fields. Instead of stalking prey in still waters, it shadows large animals, seizing insects, frogs, and small reptiles flushed from the grass. This clever strategy offers a steady supply of food with minimal effort. Originally native to Africa, the Cattle Egret arrived in the Americas in the 20th century and quickly spread. Today, it thrives in pastures, agricultural fields, and roadside ditches—anywhere disturbance stirs up a meal.
