The Reddish Egret is Florida’s rarest and most range-restricted wading bird, when foraging for fish among Florida’s bays and estuaries it reveals itself to be a very entertaining bird, it characteristically feeds by lurching through shallow water in a weaving half-run while stabbing its bill in all directions, it will also ‘canopy feed,’ it occurs in two color morphs: red and white, the red morph is far more common throughout Florida, and occasionally a red-morph egret will be seen with scattered white feathers in its wings. (Bird information is from a Lone Pine publication ‘BIRDS of FLORIDA’ by Pranty – Radamaker – Kennedy).

Camera: SONY A900; F-Stop: f/5.6; Exposure Time: 1/2500 sec.; ISO Speed: 400; Focal Length: 400mm.

Photos were taken on 3/22/2009, just off the roadway on the way to Santiva Island, Florida. We were driving along when I noticed a Great White Egret standing along the side of a river. Rick pulled off to the side of the road the first opportunity that he had, I got out with camera in hand and headed back to the area just as the Egret flew off, while out of the corner of my eye I noticed this little guy ambling along the river bank towards some bushes / trees, which he ended up flying into.

Camera: Sony A900; F-Stop: f/5.6; Exposure Time: 1/3200 sec.; ISO Speed: 400; Focal Length: 400mm.

He made it a bit of a challenge for me to photograph him since the tree was at the edge of the river and by flying into the tree he managed to put a tall bush between him and myself. I had to stand with my left foot at the edge of the water while trying to lean around the bush in order to capture him (that little bit of distorted green coloring was caused because my camera lens focused on a bit of the bush I was standing behind….I couldn’t seem to reach far enough out around the bush to get an unobstructed view of him….as I was a bit leery of tipping over into the water…..and since Rick and his mother were sitting in the car which was parked up the road, with no way of keeping track of me (where I was and what I was doing), I was trying to be extremely careful while at the same time getting my photos). I was half expecting an alligators head to pop out of the water and grab a hold of my leg / foot (seriously….) I kept taking my eyes off the bird and looking down to make sure nothing was sneaking towards me from the water.

Camera: SONY A900; F-Stop: f/5.6; Exposure Time: 1/2500 sec.; ISO Speed: 400; Focal Length: 400mm.

Despite my concerns and the tall bush, I was able to take many photos of this little guy as he moved around and/or as he stood perched on a branch of the tree, he was a very cooperative model and he made my day.

Camera: SONY A900; F-Stop: f/5.6; Exposure Time: 1/3200 sec.; ISO Speed: 400; Focal Length: 400mm.

The things we will do to capture the perfect shot/s (even when we are in an area that we are not familiar with and so far out of our element).

Images and Writing © Deb Larson