Families: Ardeidae, Ciconiidae, Phoenicopteridae, Threskiorithidae
Wading birds are long legged, long necked, long billed birds that include herons, egrets, flamingos, ibis, bitterns, spoonbills, and storks. Many of the wading birds forage by wading in shallow water but not all do that exclusively, some wading birds forage in pastures, wet meadows, on beaches, fresh and saltwater shorelines, grassy slopes, mudflats or from vegetation in marshes.
There isn't much of a change between the plumage in breeding and nonbreeding White Ibis, primarily the differences are in the legs, bill and lores.
Snowy Egret in the mangroves below the footbridge so I ducked down and hid behind the mangroves at the base of the bridge to photograph the egret
Back in March of 2009 while I was photographing a Great Blue Heron on the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park in Florida a Great Egret flew in and walked close to the Great Blue Heron and me.
Of the six species of spoonbills only the Roseate Spoonbill is found in North America and it is the only Spoonbill that is so vividly colored.
Great Egrets develop fancy plumes when they are in breeding plumage and seem to be quite famous for that but their lores also change color from yellow to a lime green
Both the white and dark morphs of Reddish Egrets are great fun to watch as they hunt because they dance, twirl, whirl and stumble along like a "drunken sailor".
This adult Snowy Egret with muddy legs that were so dirty it covered up its "Golden Slippers".
Snowy Egret in a hurry that I photographed almost exactly 5 years ago while sitting low in a Florida lagoon.
Recently I posted images of a Tricolored Heron and a Black-bellied Plover where I wrote that I enjoyed images that include habitat, the same could be said about this photo of a Reddish Egret hunting on the shoreline of the Gulf Coast.
This image of a Tricolored Heron perched in White Mangroves happens to be the first photo that I had taken of a this species that I was very happy with.
Today I wanted to share another example of close up and full body images of another one of my favorite birds; the Reddish Egret.
One December morning in 2008 I was sitting in the sand at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach in Florida when a Great Blue Heron came up and perched on a driftwood stump that had washed up onto the shore.
One morning in 2008 I photographed this Green Heron at Sawgrass Lake Park in Pinellas County, Florida as it perched and preened on broken branch that was laying in the water.
Some days I find myself missing Fort De Soto so much it hurts, the birds I found there and the entire experience of just being there. It is just such an amazing place, how could I not miss it?
In Florida I found it easy to get close up images of Great Blue Herons because quite often they are used to the presence of humans but here in Utah that isn't the case and Great Blue Herons are sort of skittish.
I spotted this Black-crowned Night Heron that was almost hidden by the vegetation but as soon as we stopped it darted towards some open water in foraging mode.
Five years ago today I headed to the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park despite knowing that there were looming storms off of the coast hanging just off shore over the Gulf of Mexico and I am glad that I did because the light that day on the beach was exquisite.
I was digging through my image files yesterday and came across a series of Tricolored Heron images that I had never edited from a May morning in 2009 when I was photographing birds at Fort De Soto's north beach.
Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron Stalking prey at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in northern Utah
Summertime is upon us now and with it comes loads of people participating in outdoor activities like hiking, sports, camping and activities on the water. Everyone looks forward to warmer weather after winter but some of those activities can impact birds and wildlife.
I actually like the backgrounds in each of these images, all of them show the habitat that Tricolored Herons might be found in and highlight the birds too.
White Ibis can be strange looking birds to people who have never seen them before, they have soft, sky blue eyes, skinny legs, long necks and a bill that could be compared to Jimmy Durante's nose.
This Snowy Egret was photographed as it stood in the shallow water of the Gulf of Mexico at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach one early August morning in 2007.
I wanted to share these images because today is Earth Day.
Last week I was Thinking Pink so this week I thought I would focus on the shades of blues found in wildflowers, birds, the sky and seas.
Even though I only got out to photograph birds three times this week each of the days I did get out were very memorable!
I'm not sure why I wanted to do a post using images with pinks but here they are, a flower, a bird and pink kissed clouds.
Who knew that one day my photos would be in a book published by National Geographic? I am truly honored.
This photo shows a Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork on the shoreline of a tidal lagoon at Fort De Soto County Park in Florida and it shows how the Wood Stork can dwarf the Roseate Spoonbill in height.
Great Blue Herons are year round residents in both Florida and Utah although conditions during the winter months can be starkly different for these large wading birds in the two locations and climates.