A Snowy Egret found a spot to himself for the night, about forty-five minutes before sunset. The wading birds tend to be squabblers, but when darkness is approaching they pick a spot and settle down.
1/29/2018, St. Augustine Alligator Farm, St. Augustine, Florida.
Snowy Egrets are easily identified if you can see their feet: bright yellow and rather clownish looking.
They also have trouble with their hair-dos, another factor that adds to their comical persona. They dance around when they feed to stir up fish settled to the bottom of creeks or ponds, often tossing their heads causing those extra long feathers to bounce.
This one was just standing around at the edge of the wildlife drive, showing off his feet.
Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Florida, 1/28/2018.
This Snowy Egret is likely a regular around this small pond. He was content for me to walk by as he surveyed they area from this cement embankment near the road.
Then I took one step too close and he lifted up onto a dead branch and proceeded to twist around for some personal grooming.
The branch hung out over the pond and I was able to move around the corner and get a couple different backgrounds as he posed one legged.
I wanted to get the nice green palm fronds or the flowering Crepe Myrtle that edged the pond but as it turns out I would have had to have my feet with the alligators to get those shots.
Click on any photo for larger view.
A pair of Juvenile Snowy Egrets were using the alligator platform to practice strutting their stuff.
Their reflections were interrupted by the duckweed, but I liked the tree reflections across the water.
This platform sits just off one of the islands where several Snowy Egrets nested. We could hear them but have rarely seen them.
