{"id":6581,"date":"2012-11-15T03:55:23","date_gmt":"2012-11-15T10:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=6581"},"modified":"2025-09-01T12:14:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T17:14:23","slug":"great-egret-and-a-mullet-the-great-egret-wins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/11\/15\/great-egret-and-a-mullet-the-great-egret-wins\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Egret and a Mullet – The Great Egret Wins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GreatGreat Egret with a Mullet – Nikon D200, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 360mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I remember the morning I took this photo well, it was a warm morning in February at Fort De Soto<\/span><\/a>‘s north beach, the Great Egret was in the tidal lagoon near the Concession Stand.<\/p>\n

The egret had been actively hunting when it came up with this Mullet. The Mullet struggled hard but the Great Egret kept the wiggling fish in its bill and walked slowly to the shoreline to swallow the Mullet there.<\/p>\n

To catch moments like this or experiences like I had recently with a Prairie Falcon with a Northern Shoveler as prey<\/a> I have to spend a lot of time in the field and that certainly isn’t a chore, it is a joy.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> 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":"

I remember the morning I took this photo well, it was a warm morning in February at Fort De Soto’s north beach, the Great Egret was in the tidal lagoon near the Concession Stand and it had been actively hunting when it came up with this Mullet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153728,"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":[4004,4272,743,351,4432,363,3997,4512,4511,3980,4106,3996,102,4032],"class_list":["post-6581","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-egret","tag-egrets","tag-fish","tag-great-egret","tag-lagoon","tag-mugil-cephalus","tag-mullet","tag-pinellas-county","tag-prey","tag-water","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-photography"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-egret-mullet-mia-mcpherson-0007.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1I9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18637,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/01\/18\/great-egrets-big-white-wading-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":6581,"position":0},"title":"Great Egrets – Big White Wading Birds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"After posting Great Blue Heron images yesterday I decided to post images of Great Egrets which are also a large wading bird species this morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Egret in flight, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-egret-flight-mia-mcpherson-2568.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-egret-flight-mia-mcpherson-2568.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-egret-flight-mia-mcpherson-2568.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-egret-flight-mia-mcpherson-2568.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50815,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/02\/01\/great-egret-snowy-egret-size-and-appearance-comparison\/","url_meta":{"origin":6581,"position":1},"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":5355,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/07\/21\/reddish-egret\/","url_meta":{"origin":6581,"position":2},"title":"Reddish Egret With Lunch","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens) in October of 2008 at Fort De Soto's north beach.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Reddish Egret lunch time, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-fish-mia-mcpherson-7448.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-fish-mia-mcpherson-7448.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-fish-mia-mcpherson-7448.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6917,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/27\/reddish-egret-morphs\/","url_meta":{"origin":6581,"position":3},"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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-dancing-mia-mcpherson-5542.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-dancing-mia-mcpherson-5542.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20083,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/02\/15\/dark-and-white-morph-reddish-egrets-in-breeding-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":6581,"position":4},"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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/reddish-egret-hunting-mia-mcpherson-5432.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/reddish-egret-hunting-mia-mcpherson-5432.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":63221,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/25\/fun-photographing-reddish-egrets-in-florida\/","url_meta":{"origin":6581,"position":5},"title":"Fun Photographing Reddish Egrets In 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, 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