Greetings everyone! Linda and finally made it back from Rochester, MN. We were up there for Linda’s annual heart checkup and I am pleased to report everything looks excellent. Linda has a bit of PTSD on these visits from all that has been through up there, but she pulled through like a champ. We even celebrated by going to our favorite restaurant, Canadian Honker – DELICIOUS. Think I have mentioned this before, but there are two things that always strike me about the Mayo campus. First is the perfect entropy that plays out in their waiting room. It happens in every medical waiting room since Covid, it’s just on a larger scale there. By entropy, I am referring to the fact patients will always pick the set of chairs that maximizes their distance from anyone else. I enjoy watching the visible thought process as the options narrow ha. The other intriguing element is everyone walking around with cotton balls on their arms. Pretty sure 95% of the patients with visits that day have to start out with a phlebotomist. Just thinking about all those pokes makes me want to faint. Luckily Brad is back with a much happier story about fluffy balls to help put my mind at ease.
Take it away Brad…
Have you ever been digging through some stuff piled on your desk or the kitchen counter and found something you thought you already took care of? Well, that’s this story. I started writing just after Jan and I were in South Carolina this past February. We were (OK, I was) overwhelmed with the embarrassment of riches of birds to photograph and write about. I think I mentioned in an earlier story that we took well north of 11,000 photos over the course of three days. Our primary reason for being in the area was not birding or photography. We had really been trying to leave snowy February in Illinois behind for a week. We also wanted to visit a State Park or two to be out in Nature without a parka. It just so happened that the birding was rather spectacular, “forcing” us to fill up memory cards along the way. I guess that’s what two backup SSD drives are for.
At first, I treated every white wading bird the same as I was trying to identify them. I learned that some white wading birds are supposed to be blue, not white. I also learned that all of the medium-sized white wading birds aren’t all the same bird. I guess you need to pay attention to their feet, legs, and bills to know for sure.
Hit the jump to learn more about the “fluffy factor”!
As I’ve mentioned in a prior story, a Little Blue Heron (read about the Blue Imposter here) at first glance, looks very much like a Snowy Egret (Egretta thula), today’s featured feathered friend.
Thankfully these two posed for a comparison photo. While not quite a “cotton ball” in appearance, Snowy Egrets are noticeably “fluffier” than the Little Blue Heron. The heron and egret are very close in size. Both are approx. 26-27” in length (the Little Blue has a slight 1-2” advantage) and nearly identical wingspans of 39-41”. Then I noticed the fluffiness of the Snowy Egret. And the bright yellow feet on the Snowy, whereas the Little Blue has greenish legs and feet. Bill color is also distinctive: black and yellow for the Snowy, blue/grey for the Little Blue. Both weigh about 13-14 ounces fully grown. You can see my initial identification dilemma.
We spent the day at Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina. When we arrived early in the morning, it was just past high tide. By mid-afternoon, we were nearing low tide. Even though these Snowys were in South Carolina, they can be found year-round in South America and Mexico and really anywhere along the southern Atlantic or Pacific coastline of the US.
You might even find them in the Midwest during the migration or breeding season. Based on their habitat range maps, they don’t seem to like cold or mountainous regions.
That was one of few times we saw more than one Snowy Egret at a time. You can see the tell-tale bright yellow feet and a bit of the “snowy” feathers. They sort of reminded me of bags of cotton candy at a carnival, except for the “legs being sticks” part. From this photo it sort of looks like they are waiting for close-ups. It’s not the camera focus; it’s the feathers. OK, there may be a little depth-of-field focus going on, but it couldn’t be helped.
Luckily, two characteristic bits are visible in this photo to help with identification. First, I can see the yellow feet just below the surface. And second, the bright yellow on the bill closest to its head. The bonus identifier is the white fluff on the end of their tail, like their larger cousin the Great Egret.
And much like a Great Egret, the landing process looks rather awkward while it’s happening. First, they hold their wings relatively still while their wingtip feathers seem to spread out. Then their legs are lowered, almost limp. When they are closer to the water, the legs “reach” forward and the wings begin to flapping to scrub airspeed. I won’t say the actual landing is a crash per se, but it doesn’t always look graceful. After a bit of kerfuffle and maybe a splash or three, the bird settles into the water, wings held high and dry. Then the egrets begin the delicate process of folding their large wings and you get the sense they are thinking “nailed the landing.” At least that’s what it looks like from the outside.
Once “on the ground” and standing in water, this one took a bow.
No, it’s not admiring itself for a successful landing. The Snowy is most likely attempting canopy fishing. That’s where wading birds will spread their wings (or make a complete circle like an umbrella) to create a small shadow in the water. Shadows draw in small aquatic creatures which the Snowys can grab for a quick snack. This can save them from having to work very hard, like having to wade all over the shallows.
Since there is no in-flight food service, the Snowy gets straight to work.
Sometimes the early wading bird gets the worm. In this case, that is quite literally what happened. Other times they fly to wherever the worms are. Or small fish or shrimp or fiddler crabs, pretty much whatever they can catch and then swallow.
Snowy Egrets can live 15-16 years in the wild. They nest in colonies on protected islands, often with other small herons. The male will begin building the nest. However, after finding a mate, the female does the majority of the nest building while the male brings most of the materials. Web sites vary quite a bit whether the Snowy Egret is seasonally monogamous, or lifetime monogamous. Either way, a pair will incubate 2-6 eggs for about 24 days, with both taking their turn. Chicks stay in the nest for 20-24 days, then skedaddle to be on their own.
Thank you for reading. If you want to see more bird photos from our South Carolina winter escape, please visit here.
Credits:
Thanks again to Jan and Allyson for proofreading and editing. Thanks to Jan for some of the photos in this article.
Life Intrigued 