Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Snowy Egret

Continuing with the idea of capturing something unintended from yesterday's post - here is a photo of a snowy egret hunting in which a small fish was caught jumping out of the water when I pressed the shutter.  This took place in a marsh pond which held a unbelievable amount of fish around the size of the one in the picture.  On most mornings, there would easily be an hundred, sometimes two hundred, snowy's and other species all feeding on fish at the same time.  Pictured is one of at least three different strategies a snowy uses to catch fish.  I watched a snowy on one occasion eat eleven fish about the size of this one until I got bored and turned to something else.  He was eating before I started watching him and continued eating after I stopped, so I'm sure he ate more than eleven.  Suddenly, the feeding frenzy would end and some birds would fly off to unknown places while others stood around and preened and yet more would doze.

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