{"id":12166,"date":"2013-12-22T04:53:44","date_gmt":"2013-12-22T11:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=12166"},"modified":"2025-09-01T13:07:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T18:07:59","slug":"a-great-egret-on-the-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/12\/22\/a-great-egret-on-the-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Egret On The Hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GreatGreat Egret hunting – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 240mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Just a simple Great Egret hunting in a quiet tidal lagoon today that takes me back to warmer memories spent with good friends on Florida’s Gulf Coast.<\/p>\n

There were four of us that morning photographing Great Egrets, Little Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, Reddish Egrets and Tricolored Herons at the north beach just enjoying\u00a0each other’s company\u00a0photographing the bounty of birds before us.<\/p>\n

Quite a switch from the heavy snow-covered ground outside my window right now.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Great Egret photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just a simple Great Egret hunting in a quiet tidal lagoon today that takes me back to warmer memories spent with good friends on Florida’s Gulf Coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,25,704,362],"tags":[4004,4272,4021,5132,14752,743,351,4136,173,3970,3997,9326,8300,9084,9905,9906,9904,373],"class_list":["post-12166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-great-egrets","tag-adult","tag-ardea-alba","tag-bird-photography","tag-coastal","tag-coastal-island","tag-egret","tag-egrets","tag-foraging","tag-gulf-coast","tag-hunting","tag-lagoon","tag-memories","tag-photographing","tag-quiet","tag-simple","tag-tidal","tag-warmer","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-egret-hunting-mia-mcpherson-0131.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-3ae","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4711,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/04\/02\/great-egret-hunting-in-stll-waters\/","url_meta":{"origin":12166,"position":0},"title":"Great Egret Hunting in Still Waters","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I've always liked the calm mood this image conveys partially because the stalking pose of the Great Egret (Ardea alba), the silky smooth surface of the water, the reflection and how the out of focus Snowy Egret and Little Blue Heron give the frame a depth that wouldn't be there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Egret and friends, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-egret-florida-mia-mcpherson-9981.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-egret-florida-mia-mcpherson-9981.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-egret-florida-mia-mcpherson-9981.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":41304,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/08\/24\/reddish-egret-hunting-in-the-gulf-of-mexico\/","url_meta":{"origin":12166,"position":1},"title":"Reddish Egret Hunting In The Gulf Of Mexico","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this white morph Reddish Egret hunting in the Gulf of Mexico in June of 2008 and truly enjoyed observing its hunting behavior through my lens.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"White morph Reddish Egret after missed attempt for prey, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-whhite-morph-hunting-mia-mcpherson-1253.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-whhite-morph-hunting-mia-mcpherson-1253.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-whhite-morph-hunting-mia-mcpherson-1253.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-whhite-morph-hunting-mia-mcpherson-1253.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4758,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/04\/11\/a-hunting-snowy-egret\/","url_meta":{"origin":12166,"position":2},"title":"Hunting Snowy Egret","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I love the challenge of photographing white birds and getting the exposures right, I like to nail it. Snowy Egrets (Egretta thula) are great birds to practice getting exposures of the whites set correctly.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hunting Snowy Egret, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-mia-mcpherson-5228.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-mia-mcpherson-5228.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-mia-mcpherson-5228.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-mia-mcpherson-5228.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15214,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/06\/15\/reddish-egrets-wading-birds-that-delight\/","url_meta":{"origin":12166,"position":3},"title":"Reddish Egrets – Wading Birds That Delight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Reddish Egret is one of my favorite wading birds. Standing still they are a delight to the eyes and while hunting they can perform amazing turns, twists, gallops and appear to be dancing.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Reddish Egret hunting by the sand dunes, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-dark-morph-lagoon-foraging-mia-mcpherson-8068.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-dark-morph-lagoon-foraging-mia-mcpherson-8068.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-dark-morph-lagoon-foraging-mia-mcpherson-8068.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-dark-morph-lagoon-foraging-mia-mcpherson-8068.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":155292,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/09\/11\/great-egret-in-bottomland-hardwood-forest-habitat\/","url_meta":{"origin":12166,"position":4},"title":"Great Egret In Bottomland Hardwood Forest Habitat","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"When I photographed this Great Egret perched high in a tree at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge four days ago, I was drawn in by the habitat.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Egret perched in a tree in summer, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-egret-in-a-tree-mia-mcpherson-7811.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-egret-in-a-tree-mia-mcpherson-7811.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-egret-in-a-tree-mia-mcpherson-7811.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-egret-in-a-tree-mia-mcpherson-7811.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6917,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/27\/reddish-egret-morphs\/","url_meta":{"origin":12166,"position":5},"title":"Reddish Egret Morphs","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"These two Reddish Egrets; a dark and a white morph, were photographed on the same day at Fort De Soto's north beach in May of 2009 and both of them were showing signs of being in breeding plumage.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dancing dark morph Reddish Egret, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-dancing-mia-mcpherson-5542.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-dancing-mia-mcpherson-5542.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-dancing-mia-mcpherson-5542.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-dancing-mia-mcpherson-5542.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}