Image Description

Title: Dark morph Reddish Egret with oil tipped feathers

Location: Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida

Date: 5/3/2009

 

I was out shooting on May 5, 2008 with a friend of mine and this Reddish Egret gave us quite a show. But through the viewfinder I kept wondering about some dark spots I noticed on the bird’s head, tail, the upper and under sides of the wings that are not normally present.

After getting home and viewing my images on my monitor I realized that those dark spots have been caused by oil.

Hopefully because the oil wasn’t covering major portions of the bird’s body the egret will be ok. It did not effect the egret’s ability to perform it’s captivating foraging dance.