Snowy Egret

The Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) can easily be identified by they're bright, yellow feet. If you look closely, you can see his feet through the water. They are also considerably smaller than the Great Egret. They are in the Heron family.

When alarmed, they raise the feathers on their head in a display fashion. They can be seen sprinting rapidly through shallow water when they're feeding. They often feed in groups.

They are resident in Florida and can be found in coastal beaches, marshes and inland waterways.

Snowy Egret

During my last Meetup at Lake Seminole Park, I spotted this Snowy Egret under a foot bridge hunting for his next meal. I was immediately attracted to the reflection of him in the water, which was so clear it showed his underparts.

This particular area under this footbridge is a favorite hunting/fishing place for all the shore birds in this park. There are plenty of Blue Crab to feed all of them. I've never failed to be able to find the birds here any time I've been to this area.

Settings used in making this image were with my camera set to Aperture Priority with partial metering on the bird, at 400 ISO because the light was pretty dim under the bridge, I exposed it at 1/30 at F5.6 with -2/3 exposure compensation to keep the white feathers of the bird from blowing out. I used my 55-250mm at 250mm to capture him.