{"id":9821,"date":"2013-10-18T03:45:56","date_gmt":"2013-10-18T09:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=9821"},"modified":"2025-05-10T05:47:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T10:47:08","slug":"great-egret-in-breeding-plumage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/10\/18\/great-egret-in-breeding-plumage\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Egret In Breeding Plumage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PortraitGreat Egret in breeding plumage – Nikon D200, handheld, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Great Egrets develop fancy plumes when they are in breeding plumage and seem to be quite famous for that but their lores also change color from yellow to a lime green\u00a0and the top mandible turning very dark. With the lores being so colorful during courtship the eyes seem to look even paler than normal.<\/p>\n

This Great Egret was photographed in Florida during the month of April which seems to be around the peak of their breeding season there.<\/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":"

Great Egrets develop fancy plumes when they are in breeding plumage and seem to be quite famous for that but their lores also change color from yellow to a lime green<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":144032,"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":[27,25,362,2000],"tags":[4004,4272,14779,4053,4142,5132,743,351,363,4046,165],"class_list":["post-9821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-great-egrets","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-adult","tag-ardea-alba","tag-barrier-island","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-close-up","tag-coastal","tag-egret","tag-egrets","tag-great-egret","tag-portrait","tag-spring"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/great-egret-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-4730.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2yp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":50815,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/02\/01\/great-egret-snowy-egret-size-and-appearance-comparison\/","url_meta":{"origin":9821,"position":0},"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, 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McPherson","date":"August 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This adult Reddish Egret was going into breeding plumage, it has the pink and black bi-colored bill and the lores are turning bluish purple.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Reddish Egret in breeding plumage on the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-breeding-mia-mcpherson-8795.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-breeding-mia-mcpherson-8795.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/reddish-egret-breeding-mia-mcpherson-8795.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7015,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/04\/two-great-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":9821,"position":2},"title":"Two Great Birds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"These two \"Great\" images were taken two minutes apart of two different \"Great\" wading birds in Florida.","rel":"","context":"In "Florida"","block_context":{"text":"Florida","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/florida\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Breeding plumage lores in a Great Egret, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-egret-breeding-mia-mcpherson-8131.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-egret-breeding-mia-mcpherson-8131.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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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, 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