A Snowy Day in Tucson

By that, I mean a Snowy Egret day....

One morning at Sweetwater Wetlands, I came across a Snowy Egret perched on a rock in the middle of a pond.

The Snowy Egret needed a spot to go about preening all of its feathers. All birds spend much of their time preening and taking care of their feathers. Birds depend on their feathers being clean, in good shape, and being in the right place. I had never realized that the underside of this Egret’s bill was white. I assumed it was just as black as the upper side of the bill.

I watched the Egret preening for a very long time. With the bird completely out of the water, you can see the ‘golden slippers’, or yellow feet that Snowy Egrets are known for.

In between preening activities, the bird would rest. The Snowy Egret is an elegant bird with its snowy-white plumage contrasting with its black bill and black legs. You can see the filmy feather plumes beginning to develop in this bird.

Over the following two weeks I made a few more trips back to Sweetwater. Each time I was able to see a Snowy Egret there, and I assume it was the very same bird. Often it was in the same corner of the same pond it had been preening in. It also had a few other regular spots. On one visit, I got to see the Snowy Egret hunting for prey.

I watched it move back and forth in front of the reeds. The delicate lacy feathers you see on the Egret’s body are the beginning of breeding plumes developing in advance of the upcoming breeding season. Those feathery plumes, sometimes long and flowing, are meant to enhance the courtship displays. Those plumes are seen on both male and female Snowy Egrets.

The Snowy Egret plunged its head into the water to grab the small prey it was hunting.

When the Egret pulls its head and bill out, it alway shakes its bill to throw off excess water. You can see the water drops flying through the air.

My next post will show more photos of the Snowy Egret hunting.

Those lacy feather plumes once endangered the Snowy Egret species. As AllAboutBirds describes on its website, “During the breeding season, adult Snowy Egrets develop long, wispy feathers on their backs, necks, and heads. In 1886 these plumes were valued at $32 per ounce, which was twice the price of gold at the time. Plume-hunting for the fashion industry killed many Snowy Egrets and other birds until reforms were passed in the early twentieth century. The recovery of shorebird populations through the work of concerned citizens was an early triumph and helped give birth to the conservation movement.”