{"id":15214,"date":"2014-06-15T04:05:33","date_gmt":"2014-06-15T10:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=15214"},"modified":"2025-09-22T15:12:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T20:12:08","slug":"reddish-egrets-wading-birds-that-delight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/06\/15\/reddish-egrets-wading-birds-that-delight\/","title":{"rendered":"Reddish Egrets – Wading Birds That Delight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ReddishReddish Egret splashing while hunting – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/800, ISO 250, 80-400mm VR at 300mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The Reddish Egret is one of my favorite wading birds. Standing still they are a delight to the eyes and\u00a0while hunting they can perform amazing turns, twists, gallops and appear to be dancing. They are very entertaining to say the least. Reddish Egrets come in two forms, a dark form as shown in the image above and a white morph. When they are in breeding plumage as the egret is in the images I\u00a0have posted today the pink bill is pronounced and there is a purplish blue by the lores.<\/p>\n

\"ReddishReddish Egret hunting by the sand dunes – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/750, ISO 250, 80-400mm VR at 300mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Reddish Egrets are endemic to the Americas, occurring year round in coastal lagoons of Florida and along the Gulf Coast. They are primarily nonmigratory and are occasionally seen in California and a few other western states during the winters months.<\/p>\n

Reddish egrets can live up to 12 years and eat small fish. They run across the waters of tidal mudflats when hunting and quite often use a method of “canopy feeding”, or forming an umbrella with their wings to create a shadow over the water and when they see small fish, they pounce.<\/p>\n

Happy Father’s Day to all you great Dads out there!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":157659,"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":[27,25,704,2000,157],"tags":[4004,853,4530,6214,743,351,4185,2596,4077,3970,3997,160,4235,4139,2688,313,3996],"class_list":["post-15214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-reddish-egret","tag-adult","tag-canopy-feeding","tag-dark-morph","tag-dunes","tag-egret","tag-egrets","tag-egretta-rufescens","tag-endemic","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-hunting","tag-lagoon","tag-reddish-egret","tag-sand-dunes","tag-spartina","tag-splashing","tag-wading-birds","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-dark-morph-lagoon-foraging-mia-mcpherson-8068.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-3Xo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20083,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/02\/15\/dark-and-white-morph-reddish-egrets-in-breeding-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":15214,"position":0},"title":"Dark and White Morph Reddish Egrets in Breeding Plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Reddish Egrets I photographed that May morning were busy hunting and paid me almost no attention as they went about their daily business of find prey.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dark morph Reddish Egret in breeding plumage, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/reddish-egret-hunting-mia-mcpherson-5432.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/reddish-egret-hunting-mia-mcpherson-5432.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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McPherson","date":"October 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Both the white and dark morphs of Reddish Egrets are great fun to watch as they hunt because they dance, twirl, whirl and stumble along like a \"drunken sailor\".","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"White morph Reddish Egret on the hunt, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-white-morph-goofy-mia-mcpherson-5290.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-white-morph-goofy-mia-mcpherson-5290.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Florida","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 25, 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, 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