These were all taken at the Rookery in the St Augustine Alligator Farm, April 12, 2008.
I was totally confused by this one. Could not find any reference to the black bill, with the red close to the face.
I have 4 reference books now. The Sibley, National Geographic, Peterson, and the Stokes.
I don't use the Peterson and the Stokes very often anymore. But I was struggling with the id on this bird. Finally found it in the Stokes, then can see it in the Sibley, but I don't think it says enough about it for me to ever have found it in the Sibley.
The rookery is awesome, I will be posting some more photographs from the Rookery after I return from vacation. The birds are not in captivity, they just show up there every year. In addition to these Reddish Egret White Morphs I photographed Wood Storks, Roseate Spoonbills, Tricolored Heron, Cattle Egret, and Great Egrets (if I didn't forget something). The Great Egrets already had babies.
UPDATE: Hap from New Hope has gotten me again. Not a Reddish Egret, White Morph. A breeding Snowy Egret. Hap I need your email so I can use you as a consultant before blundering right in on these hard ones.
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12 comments:
Awesome photographs Leedra! I hope to see this guy for myself someday.
Craig
Beautiful.I love the flowing feathers.
Blessings,Ruth
What a bird! That last photo is sort of comical...great capture.
FAB photo's Leedra. I only have a copy of Sibley for Nth USA & agree that the illustrations (and words) are not that helpful - Well done on the ID. Frank.
Hi Leedra, you haven't heard
from me for awhile. First of
all, great photos of a really
awesome bird! Sure had this
Minnesota birder confused. If
it was a Snowy Egret you would
expect it to have yellow feet,
not pink. As for the beak and
lores, I can't find a Reddish
Egret in the books to compare
this to. However, Peterson's
4th edition of his field guide
the birds E. of The Rockies, he
mentions the yellow lores can
be red when breeding in the
Snowy Egret.Those pink feet
drive me crazy, but I think
you have a Snowy Egret there.
Nice work.
Hap in New Hope
Beautiful photos of these fancy looking birds!
Well---I say that if my friend Leedra doesn't know, then who does?????? Snowy Egret sounds good... Of course, you know that "I" wouldn't have a clue. Pretty birds though.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Hugs,
Betsy
Very cool photos, he is incredible. The rookery sounds like a wonderful place to visit. I hope to go down to Florida one day and am taking notes of various places I know I would love to visit :)
These are some of your best photos; what a beautiful bird and you captured it so well.
Hi Leedra, Hap again. I just
couldn't get that egret out of
my mind, so last night I got a
book down from my shelf titled:
The Herons Handbook by James
Hancock and James Kushlan with
a forward by Roger Tory Peterson.
Am I glad I did; on page 33 they show your bird with pink lores
and toes. They call it Snowy Egret in "courtship". Then on page 121
they go on to say: "In breeding
condition, the white plumes on
the head, neck and back are very
conspicuous. The toes become
orange-red, and the lores become
reddish-pink." Thank goodness I
found this, now I can sleep again.
LOL!! Hope you had a wonderful
time in Florida and looking for-
ward to more great photos.
Hap in New Hope
Leedra, those are exceptional photos of your snowy egret in breeding colors. I wonder how often photographers have gotten photos of this bird in his "condition." ;o)
Wonderful. They all make me happy.
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