{"id":47420,"date":"2017-06-23T04:08:36","date_gmt":"2017-06-23T10:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=47420"},"modified":"2025-06-27T10:07:27","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T15:07:27","slug":"snowy-egret-wading-in-dark-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/06\/23\/snowy-egret-wading-in-dark-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowy Egret Wading in Dark Water"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SnowySnowy Egret in dark part of the lagoon – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 400, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 310mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I like high contrast images at times like dark birds against white snow or white birds against a dark background because they are visually interesting. They certainly aren’t as subtle as some of my images are.<\/p>\n

I knew when I photographed this Snowy Egret in a shallow lagoon at Fort De Soto County Park<\/span><\/a> that the dark reflections of the mangroves and mangrove roots on the water would produce a high contrast image. The whites of the egret seemed to glow compared to the inky water. I was sitting in the lagoon with the bird when I photographed this to get a low angle while the egret simply ignored me and hunted for prey.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Snowy Egret photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

I photographed this Snowy Egret in November of 2008<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I knew when I photographed this Snowy Egret in a shallow lagoon at Fort De Soto County Park that the dark reflections of the mangroves and mangrove roots on the water would produce a high contrast image. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149526,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,25,704,2000,255],"tags":[4004,5229,5132,1083,743,351,4120,5929,3997,3988,313,3996],"class_list":["post-47420","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-snowy-egrets","tag-adult","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-dark-water","tag-egret","tag-egrets","tag-egretta-thula","tag-high-contrast","tag-lagoon","tag-snowy-egret","tag-wading-birds","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-3506.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ckQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9730,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/10\/06\/snowy-egret-in-a-hurry\/","url_meta":{"origin":47420,"position":0},"title":"Snowy Egret in a hurry","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Snowy Egret in a hurry that I photographed almost exactly 5 years ago while sitting low in a Florida lagoon.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snowy Egret in a hurry, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-adult-mia-mcpherson-5198.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-adult-mia-mcpherson-5198.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-adult-mia-mcpherson-5198.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-adult-mia-mcpherson-5198.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35111,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/26\/a-solitary-snowy-egret-in-low-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":47420,"position":1},"title":"Solitary Snowy Egret In Low Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This image of a solitary Snowy Egret in low light is simple but I find the simplicity of it appealing.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snowy Egret in low light, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4016.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-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4016.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4016.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4758,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/04\/11\/a-hunting-snowy-egret\/","url_meta":{"origin":47420,"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":10927,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/21\/a-snowy-egret-in-the-mangroves\/","url_meta":{"origin":47420,"position":3},"title":"Snowy Egret In The Mangroves","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Snowy Egret in the mangroves below the footbridge so I ducked down and hid behind the mangroves at the base of the bridge to photograph the egret","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snowy Egret under a mangrove canopy near the footbridge at Fort De Soto, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-fort-desoto-north-beach-mia-mcpherson-4242.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-fort-desoto-north-beach-mia-mcpherson-4242.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/snowy-egret-fort-desoto-north-beach-mia-mcpherson-4242.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50815,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/02\/01\/great-egret-snowy-egret-size-and-appearance-comparison\/","url_meta":{"origin":47420,"position":4},"title":"Great Egret – Snowy Egret Size and Appearance Comparison","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"There are some other differences between Great and Snowy Egrets in appearance of course but I think the comparisons I have written about are the most helpful for me in the field for identification and may be for other people too.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snowy Egret - Great Egret size comparison, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/great-egret-snowy-egret-size-comparison-mia-mcpherson-0027.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/great-egret-snowy-egret-size-comparison-mia-mcpherson-0027.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/great-egret-snowy-egret-size-comparison-mia-mcpherson-0027.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/great-egret-snowy-egret-size-comparison-mia-mcpherson-0027.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7040,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/07\/calm-snowy-egret\/","url_meta":{"origin":47420,"position":5},"title":"Calm Snowy Egret","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This image soothes me because of the still water, the relaxed pose of the calm Snowy Egret and the memories of how delightful it was to be on the north beach of Fort De Soto","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Calm Snowy Egret, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/snowy-egret-calm-mia-mcpherson-9893.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/snowy-egret-calm-mia-mcpherson-9893.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/snowy-egret-calm-mia-mcpherson-9893.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47420","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=47420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}