This Is A Series Of Photos Of A Snowy Egret Fishing by Larry Jordan
We spent a couple of days in the Sacramento Valley over the weekend visiting the Sacramento National Wildlfie Refuge and the Cosumnes River Preserve. One of the many joys we were able to observe was this Snowy Egret fishing.
We were parked on Staten Island Road which is part of the Cosumnes River Preserve with excellent spots to view Sandhill Cranes, Tundra Swans, Greater White-fronted Goose, Snow Goose, Ross’s Goose, and Canada Goose but that’s another story. We were watching this Snowy Egret when a Great Egret flew over from the adjacent field and landed right next to the snowy.
“Hey, this looks like a good spot to fish! Catch anything?”
“Whoa big fella, this is my fishing hole!”
The Snowy Egret slowly walked away from the Great Egret and you can see in this next photo the obvious size difference between the two
After a short rest, the Great Egret decided there wasn’t much going on and took flight to better fishing grounds
Shortly thereafter, the Snowy Egret realized he wasn’t finding much here either and decided to move to a better location in the adjacent field where I captured the following photos.
As this superb hunter of fish, crustaceans and insects shows, the head is pulled back like a coiled snake, ready to strike
Then, bam, the beak and head are plunged into the water after the prey. Sometimes you make a catch, sometimes you don’t.
We watched as this adept hunter shuffled its feet, stirring up food from the bottom of the long since harvested corn field, adeptly catching small fish and crayfish as well.
After watching this Snowy Egret shuffling up food with those big yellow feet and chowing down tiny lobsters for about half an hour, I was full. We decided to leave him to eat in peace and head back home.
We saw over 65 species of birds on our two day trip to the southern Sacramento Valley and had a great time in the balmy, winter sun. Now all we need is some rain to fill up our lakes and rivers. They say it’s on the way so we’re keeping our fingers crossed. Anyone out there getting too much rain, please, send some our way. Happy Birding!
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Both your egrets and photography are splendid. A wonderful series of photos.
Arijas last blog post..MY WORLD ~ 13 Murphy’s Haystacks
@Arija thank you so much. We had a great time watching them.
Oh..you really caught their behavior well…Beautiful birds…
I enjoy seeing behavioural sequences like this. Your Snowy is replaced with Litte Egret here.
Gallicissas last blog post..The pond
@Ramblingwoods thanks for the kudos and thank you for writing the piece on Barack Obama. I am truly excited about the next four years and beyond.
@Amila thanks for stopping by and I love your dragonfly pond!
My daughter-in-law is originally from Sacramento. I’ll have to check out the bird refuge when I go there next.
These photos are beautiful. What a majestic bird!
I like how you captured the size differences between these two beautiful birds.
Natural Momentss last blog post..The Beauty of the Double Crested Cormorant
@Pagan you should definitely go visit the SNWR. It’s a great place to see many species of birds and you can take a walking trail or driving trail or both!
@Bernie thanks for the comment and I think the Double-crested Cormorant is a beautiful bird. It is in the eye of the beholder you know
@Seabrooke your rendition of IATB is one of the best I have had the pleasure of attending! I hope I can achieve something approaching your delightful picnic party when I host February 19th