{"id":155292,"date":"2025-09-11T04:44:56","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T09:44:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=155292"},"modified":"2025-09-11T04:44:56","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T09:44:56","slug":"great-egret-in-bottomland-hardwood-forest-habitat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/09\/11\/great-egret-in-bottomland-hardwood-forest-habitat\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Egret In Bottomland Hardwood Forest Habitat"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I photographed this Great Egret perched high in a tree at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/a> four days ago, I was drawn in by the habitat.<\/p>\n

\"GreatGreat Egret perched in a tree in summer \u2013 Canon R7, handheld, f8, 1\/2500, ISO 800, -1.0 EV, Canon EF 100-400mm II at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

After nearly fifteen years in Utah, I\u2019m soothed by how green it is, even this late in the summer, in Arkansas and Oklahoma. The morning light might have shown a little gold on the leaves of the tree the egret was perched on, but the green in the background is wonderful to me.<\/p>\n

This Great Egret had company, with another egret in the tree next to it, and down below near the water\u2019s edge a Great Blue Heron had been foraging.<\/p>\n

Me? I was walking on the Sally Jones Causeway.<\/p>\n

This summer I haven\u2019t seen as many Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Green Herons, or Great Blue Herons as I did last summer at the refuge. The edges of the roads are pretty grown up, and that makes it harder to see even the larger wading birds there.<\/p>\n

Is that the only reason I am seeing fewer of these wading birds?<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t even hazard a guess. There are simply too many variables at this point in time.<\/p>\n

I miss seeing and photographing these wading birds, so when I get the chance, even from far away, I’m going to take it.<\/p>\n

Besides, this is a great way to show what it feels like to be out wandering on foot in the bottomland habitat.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,362,13973,13974],"tags":[4004,4272,14190,13984,16737,743,351,363,683,4104,15457,2315,4076,313],"class_list":["post-155292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-great-egrets","category-oklahoma","category-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-adult","tag-ardea-alba","tag-bottomland-hardwood-forest","tag-bottomlands","tag-distant","tag-egret","tag-egrets","tag-great-egret","tag-habitat-2","tag-perched","tag-sally-jones-lake","tag-summer-3","tag-trees","tag-wading-birds"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\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