White morph Reddish Egret hunting behavior – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1/1600, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm at 220mm, natural light
Yesterday on Facebook I saw a video that reminded me of how much fun it was to get into the warm water of the Gulf of Mexico or a tidal lagoon and photograph Reddish Egrets while they hunted for prey. I must have watched the video a dozen times since I first saw it in my timeline.
Reddish Egrets have two morphs, the dark morph where they are reddish and a white morph. The white morphs are less common in the U.S. and in the Caribbean the white morphs predominate.
White morph Reddish on the hunt – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1/1500, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm at 240mm, natural light
I photographed this white morph Reddish Egret hunting in the Gulf of Mexico in June of 2008 and truly enjoyed observing its hunting behavior through my lens. Reddish Egrets sway, run, dash, prance and dance while they are hunting.
I’ve had this species completely ignore me while I have sat photographing them in quiet lagoons as they ran around chasing prey, at times I had them come so close to me that I couldn’t focus on them and wondered if I was going to get run over by a wading bird.
White morph Reddish Egret making a splash – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1/1250, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm at 240mm, natural light
In this frame the Reddish Egret had plunged its head and bill into the water in an attempt to capture prey.
I loved photographing both morphs but always enjoyed seeing the white morphs against the blue water of the Gulf and tidal lagoons.
White morph Reddish Egret after missed attempt for prey – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1/1500, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm at 240mm, natural light
There are only about 2000 breeding pairs of Reddish Egrets in the United States making them our least common, or even rarest wading bird. They are found along the Atlantic coast of Florida, the Gulf coast, the coast of Mexico west towards Baja, Central America, the Caribbean and the northern coast of South America.
I’m glad I was able to spend so much time photographing Reddish Egrets in Florida.
Life is good.
Mia
Click to see more images of this species.
Amazing captures of a stunning subject reddish egret morph. Thanks Mia, Tom
Incredible wings! Such grace and beauty and strength. Icarus must be rolling over in his grave. Thanks again, Mia.
Glorious things. Thank you.
These birds must be where artists through the ages have gotten their ideas for angels’ wings!
I had a similar thought…
Beautiful images! Especially the second and the last…
oh GOODNESS!!!! How beeeeautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Growing up on the Texas coast there seemed to be a lot of Reddish Egrets, never saw a white morph. In fact I didn’t realize they existed until your article. So sad to learn there are so few of these left. Just to damn much habitat loss. Where I enjoyed watching black skimmers and least terns nest one summer in the early sixties is now bulkheaded and is a park and parking line for the ferries.
Beautiful birds, thank you for the video, I had to share it to my daughter who is feeling down lately. It made me smile hopefully she will too.
Nature: she sure does have a sense of humor when it comes to color morphs! Got to love infinite variety!
Beautiful photos Mia. These birds are majestic and so animated.
It is interesting to see that I am following the same path that you did … (with a delay of seven years)
Yesterday it was the gull and today this White Egret.
Last year I was able to follow and photograph a White Egret hunting a fish.
It was really fascinating to observe all that action that you described so well.
Thank you for showing the way.
Beautiful! And yes I had to watch that video numerous times!
Wow, stunning!