Nesting Snowy Egret

by Dawn Currie

Title

Nesting Snowy Egret

Artist

Dawn Currie

Medium

Photograph - Digital

Description

Photographic artwork by Dawn Currie. A nesting Snowy Egret with three eggs. Photographed in central Florida.

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I love shooting these beautiful birds in a variety of popular birding locations in central Florida, including Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands in Viera Florida, Gleason Park in Indian Harbour Beach Florida, Gatorland in Orlando Florida, Orlando Wetlands in Christmas Florida, Sebastian Inlet State Park, and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, near Titusville Florida. The best place to photograph nesting Snowy Egrets is Gatorland Orlando. This is where I found this Mom taking care of three blue eggs in her small delicate nest.

SNOWY EGRET (Egretta thula): Among the most elegant of the herons, the slender Snowy Egret sets off immaculate white plumage with black legs and brilliant yellow feet. Those feet seem to play a role in stirring up or herding small aquatic animals as the egret forages. Breeding Snowy Egrets grow filmy, curving plumes that once fetched astronomical prices in the fashion industry, endangering the species. Early conservationists rallied to protect egrets by the early twentieth century, and this species is once again a common sight in shallow

Adult Snowy Egrets have greenish-yellow feet for most of the year, but at the height of the breeding season their feet take on a much richer, orange-yellow hue. The bare skin on their face also changes color, from yellow to reddish.

Male and female Snowy Egrets take turns incubating their eggs. As one mate takes over for the other, it sometimes presents a stick, almost as if passing a baton. Both parents continue caring for the young when they hatch.

They are most common along the coast, though they do breed patchily in inland wetlands. Snowy Egrets nest colonially, usually on protected islands, and often with other small herons. They concentrate on mudflats, beaches, and wetlands, but also forage in wet agricultural fields and along the edges of rivers and lakes.

Uploaded

April 14th, 2014

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