{"id":10892,"date":"2013-11-20T05:33:09","date_gmt":"2013-11-20T12:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=10892"},"modified":"2026-10-24T09:24:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T14:24:31","slug":"great-blue-herons-reaction-to-an-american-egrets-intrusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/20\/great-blue-herons-reaction-to-an-american-egrets-intrusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Blue Heron’s Reaction to an American Egret’s Intrusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmericanAmerican Egret headshot in breeding plumage – Nikon D200, handheld, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Back in March of 2009 while I was photographing a Great Blue Heron on the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park<\/span><\/a> in Florida an American Egret flew in and walked close to the Great Blue Heron and me.<\/p>\n

Sitting there with two very sharp-billed birds can be a little nerve wracking especially when you see the bills magnified through a telephoto lens.<\/p>\n

The American Egret<\/span><\/a> wasn’t paying me or the Great Blue Heron much attention at all, it only seemed to have looking for prey on its mind.<\/p>\n

\"SquawkingSquawking Great Blue Heron\u00a0– Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The Great Blue Heron<\/span><\/a>; on the other hand, didn’t seem to care for the intruder at all and squawked as soon as the American Egret got within about 10 feet of the Great Blue. \u00a0I don’t think the Great Blue Heron appreciated the American Egret horning in on its hunting territory.<\/p>\n

I wondered if I might see a fight between the two large wading birds and I really didn’t think I would have enjoyed a front row seat to that kind of altercation especially because of those dagger sharp bills.<\/p>\n

The American Egret ignored the Great Blue and continued north on the shoreline of the Gulf looking for prey and the Great Blue Heron settled back down.<\/p>\n

Back\u00a0in January of this year I had written another post about these Two Great Birds<\/a><\/span> and wanted to share a bit more about them today.<\/p>\n

Photographing the Great Blue Heron’s reaction to an American Egret’s intrusion was interesting.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Great Blue Heron photos plus facts and information about this species. Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my American Egret photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

Update<\/strong>: Great Egrets were renamed American Egrets in October 2026, the scientific name was changed to Ardea egretta<\/em>. This post has been updated to reflect those changes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in March of 2009 while I was photographing a Great Blue Heron on the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park in Florida an American Egret flew in and walked close to the Great Blue Heron and me. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":132423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[362,27,25,704,166,2000],"tags":[4004,363,4272,4117,4226,9088,4142,743,351,3987,4077,627,626,2394,9087,4046,9089,4188,9090,313,3996],"class_list":["post-10892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-egrets","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-great-blue-herons","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-adult","tag-american-egret","tag-ardea-egretta","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-behavior","tag-bills","tag-close-up","tag-egret","tag-egrets","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-interaction","tag-intrusion","tag-portrait","tag-sharp","tag-shoreline","tag-squawked","tag-wading-birds","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t