Crowned Cattle Egret

by AnnaJo Vahle

Title

Crowned Cattle Egret

Artist

AnnaJo Vahle

Medium

Photograph - Acrylic On Canvas

Description

A couple of years ago, we were out and about in St. Augustine, Florida. I was mostly interested in photographing the lighthouse for studies of a painting I was doing. We went to the nearby St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park. It was spring time and the birds all around us were prancing and primping and courting and making families. We mesmerized by the energetic views of beautiful birds, instead. Looking way above us in the tree tops, I was fortunate to catch the sight of this little egret.

The Cattle Egret is beautiful during breeding season, with its crown of buff colored plumes and the bill, legs and irises become bright red for a brief period. I found this one in a tree-top near a wetland area near sunset. The light illuminated the feathers and leaves.

I see them every spring around here in Florida. I am always enchanted when I see what is normally a not too pretty bird strutting his or her beautiful courting feathers.

Compared with other herons, Cattle Egrets are noticeably small and compact. They have relatively short legs and a short thick neck. The straight, dagger-like bill is shorter and thicker than other herons. They have medium-length, broad, rounded wings. Cattle Egrets stalk insects and other small animals on the ground in grassy fields. They are much less often seen in water than other herons. They nest in dense colonies of stick nests in trees or emergent wetlands, often mixed with other species of herons.
Captured with a high quality Nikon digital camera.

Uploaded

May 23rd, 2020

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