Snowy Egret Fishing | ROLLING HARBOUR ABACO

SNOWY EGRETS: A FUSS ABOUT (ALMOST) NOTHING…

Well, what’s all the fuss about here? One snowy egret is striding confidently forward. The other has gone into full-scale feather-frenzy melt-down. Something is clearly up…

…something that seems on close inspection to be a very small fish

After pausing to check what’s going on, the cool, calm and collected snowy continues on his way. His friend however seems to have lost all sense of decorum as a result of a successful stalk and the catch of a light snack…

Sensible part: the dishevelled bird is displaying so-called ‘bridal plumage’. And for ID enthusiasts, note the diagnostic yellow feet (header image), black legs, and black beak with a yellow / orange ‘bit’ (*technical word alert*) at the blunt end.

Credits: these fantastic photos are the work of Phil Lanoue who specialises in sequential photography, to whom many thanks for use permission; cartoon, Birdorable

SNOWY EGRETS & ENVIABLE FISHING SUCCESSES

This snowy egret is not (as it might appear) practising its ballet moves. It is on a mission. You can see the egret’s hunting trail, leaving a gentle but purposeful wake as it stalks through the water. Now it is poised for its next move… getting lunch. The head cocked to one side suggests it has seen its prey. With wings outstretched, it is perfectly balanced for a swift and deadly accurate strike into the water… And (below) it nails its target at the first attempt. [It’s well worth clicking on these images to enlarge them. Double click to enlarge them further]

The skilful techniques demonstrated by egrets are not infallible. They may miss the fish; or take too light a grasp of it; or even lose it while manoeuvring the fish in its beak to get it into a swallowable position. Or it may turn out to be simply too large to swallow… Remarkably, the substantial fish shown below – one I’d have been proud to catch on the fly (especially first cast) – went successfully down the hatch. A snowy egret’s capacity to hang onto and consume fish that are significantly longer than the length of its bill is another feature worthy of admiration.

I had been planning a quite different post for today, but during the weekend I saw these wonderful sequential photos by Phil Lanoue, whose work I feature from time to time. They are so striking that I fast-tracked them to start the week with.

Photo Credits: PHIL LANOUE (with many thanks for use permission)