Thursday, October 11, 2012

The Great Egret

We're blessed in Florida to have so many beautiful birds year-round.  One of the more majestic is the Great Egret.  Here is a montage of some Great Egret pics from the last few years.

Here's an older feller on the beach at Matanzas Inlet on a cold blustery winter day with a strong Nor'easter blowing.  He was just like me... hunkered down trying to fight off the wind.



This feller is working on his breeding plumage for the spring.  This is January, but January in the Everglades is spring!



You can tell the Great Egret from its apparent cousin the Snowy Egret by its greater size and the size/color of their beaks and color of their feet.  Both have a similar yellow eye band, but the Great Egret has a large thick yellow beak and the Snowy Egret a slighter black beak.  On the other hand, the Snowy Egret has yellow feet, while the Great Egret has jet black feet.  How's that for opposites?  Here's a Snowy Egret for comparison.



And that beak is a serious weapon.  I wouldn't want to get stuck by him!  Here's a younger Great Egret.  You can tell he's young because his beak is pristine.  Compare with the older one above.


And finally, this egret is settling in for the night on a cedar tree in the swamp across the creek from my house.  I love the saturated color of the setting sun and way he's framed in by the curved branches of the cedar.




See more Egrets

See much more at www.wlpearce.com where it's all about the photos.


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