Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Great Egret

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This Great Egret is a little smaller than the one that normally comes over to visit from the Lake. On this side of the street, he can find Anolis (Anoles) to eat. They wait for their prey to come to them and then spear them with their long beak, swallowing them whole.

An Anole was the cause of my air conditioning being out over Christmas. It shorted out my system. Karri Casper came through for me on Christmas Eve (thank you Karri) and gave me the name of an air conditioning company but fortunately my roofer discovered the cause and I am "cool" again.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like one of those visionaries to me. What do you think?

Lynn Anderson said...

The fact that it's a beautiful bird or that they peck their prey and swallow them whole?

Russ said...

Sorry, that's a non-native cattle egret.

http://www.audubonguides.com/home.html

Lynn Anderson said...

Sorry, I believe that you might be wrong. This Egret has a thin neck and long legs whereas the cattle egret has a different body shape.

Anonymous said...

They taste just like muscovy ducks

Anonymous said...

Think of the bufflo wings you could make with a flock of those suckers

Russ said...

Not at all surprised you would think otherwise, but that doesn't alter facts. Buy yourself an identification guide. Size, beak and leg coloration show this to be a cattle egret. Having once spent 5 years contributing data to the Florida Audubon Breeding Bird Atlas, my certainty is based on plenty of field work. Audubon, for some reason, insists data is useless without accuracy.

For your edification please see the quick references below, taking particular notice of beak and leg coloration, as well as breeding plumage changes and feeding habits.

Great Heron (or egret):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blue_Heron

Snowy Egret:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blue_Heron

Cattle Egret:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blue_Heron

You're welcome.

Lynn Anderson said...

Thank you Russ, for being so informed. I appreciate all the facts I can muster.