{"id":41304,"date":"2016-08-24T05:13:40","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T11:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=41304"},"modified":"2025-09-22T18:08:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T23:08:46","slug":"reddish-egret-hunting-in-the-gulf-of-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/08\/24\/reddish-egret-hunting-in-the-gulf-of-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"Reddish Egret Hunting In The Gulf Of Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WhiteWhite morph Reddish Egret hunting behavior – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm at 220mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday on Facebook I saw a video that reminded me of how much fun it was to get into the warm water of the Gulf of Mexico or a tidal lagoon and photograph Reddish Egrets while they hunted for prey. I must have watched the video a dozen times since I first saw it in my timeline.<\/p>\n

Reddish Egrets have two morphs, the dark morph where they are reddish and a white morph. The white morphs are less common in the U.S. and in the Caribbean the white morphs predominate.<\/p>\n

\"WhiteWhite morph Reddish on the hunt – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1500, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm at 240mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

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. Reddish Egrets sway, run, dash, prance and dance while they are hunting.<\/p>\n

I’ve had this species completely ignore me while I have sat photographing them in quiet lagoons as they ran around chasing prey, at times I had them come so close to me that I couldn’t focus on them and wondered if I was going to get run over by a wading bird.<\/p>\n

\"WhiteWhite morph Reddish Egret making a splash – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm at 240mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

In this frame the Reddish Egret had plunged its head and bill into the water in an attempt to capture prey.<\/p>\n

I loved photographing both morphs but always enjoyed seeing the white morphs against the blue water of the Gulf and tidal lagoons.<\/p>\n

\"WhiteWhite morph Reddish Egret after missed attempt for prey – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1500, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm at 240mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There are only about 2000 breeding pairs of Reddish Egrets in the United States making them our least common, or even rarest wading bird. They are found along the Atlantic coast of Florida, the Gulf coast, the coast of Mexico west towards Baja, Central America, the Caribbean and the northern coast of South America.<\/p>\n

I’m glad I was able to spend so much time photographing Reddish Egrets in Florida.<\/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":"

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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":157689,"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_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,25,704,2000,157],"tags":[743,351,4185,4077,3970,5382,160,313,4119,4186],"class_list":["post-41304","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-egret","tag-egrets","tag-egretta-rufescens","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-hunting","tag-hunting-behavior","tag-reddish-egret","tag-wading-birds","tag-waves","tag-white-morph"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-whhite-morph-hunting-mia-mcpherson-1253.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-aKc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6917,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/27\/reddish-egret-morphs\/","url_meta":{"origin":41304,"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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22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"While I lived in Florida I simply adored being able to photograph Reddish Egrets, they can be graceful or goofy looking, they twirl, dash and dance.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"White morph Reddish Egret hunting, 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-hunting-mia-mcpherson-8148.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-hunting-mia-mcpherson-8148.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-white-morph-hunting-mia-mcpherson-8148.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-white-morph-goofy-mia-mcpherson-5290.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-white-morph-goofy-mia-mcpherson-5290.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2728,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/07\/08\/friday-photos-white-morph-reddish-egret\/","url_meta":{"origin":41304,"position":4},"title":"Friday Photos – White Morph Reddish Egret","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Reddish Egrets seem to be natural born \"Dancers\" when they are hunting for prey, they twirl, spin, piroquette and dip.","rel":"","context":"In "Bird ID"","block_context":{"text":"Bird ID","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/bird-identification\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Dancer \u2013 White Morph of 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-white-morph-dancer-florida-mia-mcpherson-5293.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-dancer-florida-mia-mcpherson-5293.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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