Feb. 8, 2015 - Sanibel-Egrets and Herons Up CLose

Birds on Sanibel Island, off the southwest coast of Florida, are used to having people around. When Diana and I were there last fall, I took advantage of that and made a special effort to take close-ups of some of these birds. Here’s a Great Egret photographed at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. That’s a very formidable-looking bill!

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This Great Blue Heron has a bi-colored bill; the upper mandible is dark and the lower mandible is yellow. I’ve noticed that Great Blue Herons often have scratches and scrapes on their bills. That’s not surprising because their bill is the main tool for capturing food. It must bang into rocks and branches while they are hunting and, as a result, take a real beating. This photo was taken at Blind Pass.

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The blue, rust, and white feathers are the inspiration for the Tri-colored Heron’s name. This close-up provides a good look at the subtlety beautiful rust-colored feathers on the neck. Also notice the bright red eye. This photo was also taken at Ding Darling NWR.

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Here’s a Snowy Egret in a resting position at Ding Darling. It actually has a pretty long neck but, in this position, it seems to have no neck at all. I still can’t figure out how it tucks the neck in so it seems to disappear.

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This Snowy Egret, photographed at Blind Pass, is focused on something in the water below.

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The Snowy did catch something; you can see it near the end of its bill. You can also see drops of water flying off in all directions as it quickly pulled its head out of the bay.

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Here’s a close look at the other end of a Snowy Egret. It’s often referred to as a bird with “golden slippers.” At the end of those long, yellow toes are some pretty large claws.

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In this photo, a Snowy Egret is perching on a branch. Three toes grasp the branch from the front and the fourth toe hooks around from the back, almost encircling the branch. This is another good look at the long, sharp claws. It’s easy to miss, but a Snowy Egret has a yellow stripe running up the back of each leg, partly visible in this photo. Both of these foot photos were taken at Ding Darling NWR.

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