Sunday, December 28, 2014

Great Egret with prey - Ardea alba

The Great Egret is a proficient hunter, catching a variety of prey with patient stalking, then striking with remarkable speed and efficiency. Here we watched a Great Egret along the Tiburon shoreline, having just caught a common bottom fish known as a sculpin. This particular sculpin is probably the "Bullhead", Leptocottus armatus.



Another shot, with less pleasing background, showing the fish better oriented for swallowing:

On a previous outing at Las Gallinas I spotted a Great Egret in high breeding plumage, stalking and catching a field mouse. The lores don't get any greener than this:

Lastly, from a hike years ago in Tennessee Valley, the Great Egret with a Garter Snake:

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