{"id":12611,"date":"2014-01-03T05:08:41","date_gmt":"2014-01-03T12:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=12611"},"modified":"2025-09-01T13:33:53","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T18:33:53","slug":"great-egret-foraging-the-wrack-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/01\/03\/great-egret-foraging-the-wrack-line\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Egret Foraging The Wrack Line"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GreatGreat Egret foraging the wrack line – Nikon D200, handheld, f8, 1\/640, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Five years ago today I photographed this Great Egret foraging in a wrack line along the Gulf of Mexico in Florida at Fort De Soto<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

A wrack line is the line of seaweed, algae, dying grasses, seeds, sponges, egg cases and other debris that accumulates on beaches from the last high tide.<\/p>\n

Wrack lines may also contain driftwood and trash that has been in the water.<\/p>\n

For birds it can be a smorgasbord\u00a0because of the small invertebrates, eggs and bugs that are found there and at Fort De Soto the gulls, wading birds and shorebirds can be found poking through the wrack line for food.<\/p>\n

In this image there is a preening Laughing Gull to the left of the Great Egret’s bill and just to the right of the egret’s leg is a Ruddy Turnstone that was actively searching the wrack for food.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/span> 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":"

Five years ago today I photographed this Great Egret foraging in a wrack line along the Gulf of Mexico in Florida at Fort De Soto. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153762,"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":[4004,4272,4039,743,351,4136,363,173,4077,3539,4017,3996,815],"class_list":["post-12611","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-beach","tag-egret","tag-egrets","tag-foraging","tag-great-egret","tag-gulf-coast","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-gull","tag-sand","tag-water","tag-wrack-line"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-egret-foraging-wrack-line-mia-mcpherson-2719.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-3hp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6917,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/27\/reddish-egret-morphs\/","url_meta":{"origin":12611,"position":0},"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, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Short-billed Dowitcher in Sargassum, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-billed-dowitcher-seaweed-mia-mcpherson-2339.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-billed-dowitcher-seaweed-mia-mcpherson-2339.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-billed-dowitcher-seaweed-mia-mcpherson-2339.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/short-billed-dowitcher-seaweed-mia-mcpherson-2339.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I had so much fun photographing Reddish Egrets when I lived in Florida and could see them nearly every time I went to Fort De Soto County Park's north beach.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Reddish Egret foraging near mangroves, 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-mangroves-mia-mcpherson-8790.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-mangroves-mia-mcpherson-8790.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-dark-mangroves-mia-mcpherson-8790.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this Short-billed Dowitcher and the out of focus Sanderling the day after a storm had pushed mounds of Sargassum seaweed onto the wrack line and the birds were busy looking for food within it.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Short-billed Dowitcher on seaweed, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/short-billed-dowitcher-seaweed-mia-mcpherson-2330.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/short-billed-dowitcher-seaweed-mia-mcpherson-2330.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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