Fort Desoto

I decided to go back to Fort Desoto this morning primarily to find the White Morph of the Reddish Egret. White morph Reddish Egrets are incredibly rare, along the Gulf Coast and in Florida—the white morph generally accounts for about 2% to 7% of the regional population. While the Reddish Egret itself is North America’s rarest heron, the white color variant is significantly less common than the standard dark-morph bird. Photographers love Reddish Egrets because of their hyperactive feeding style—running, spinning, and wing-shading while chasing fish through shallow saltwater flats. A lot of the ground nesting birds that I photographed last time had their nests destroyed by a rogue wave on April 25. I did find a Wilsons Plover with 2 tiny little babies.

Did I put on my deodorant today?

Reddish Egret doing the frantic dance.

Brown Pelican taking off nearby.

White Morph Reddish Egret taking off

Wing shading-creating shadows in the water that the fish are attracted to is one of the hunting techniques.

White Morph Reddish Egret flyby

White Morph Reddish Egret portrait.

Florida Pear Whelk egg case.

More wing shading.

Swallowing down a fish.

Red Knots

I was staring through the camera at the White Morph Reddish Egret and was wondering why it started displaying like this.

It was because the other Reddish Egret showed up. They both have some of the breeding colors. I have been told they are a pair but unsure which is male and female.