Bird of the Week – Great Egret | Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller

Today I inaugurate my new series Bird of the Week. Hopefully each Friday, I will post a photograph of a bird that I will choose at random. I will provide a photograph or two, along with some useful information. I think this may become informative for all, including myself, as I will be doing a bit of research to provide information. Also you may click on the Bold Bird Name to go to a Wikipedia link for detailed info, if available. My own resources will be my handy Bird Guides. So here we go.

Great Egret. (Ardea alba). The Great Egret is one my personal favorite water birds. Long-legged and graceful. Tall, slender and long-necked. Length 39″, wing-span 51″, weight 1.9 lbs. All white, yellow bill and black legs and feet. When foraging, they will walk slowly thru open water or reedy areas, watching for fish. When they spot their quarry, they use their bill as a spear, instantly stabbing their prey.

This first photo was taken along the Concho River in downtown San Angelo. I was walking along the bank. I spotted the egret flying down the river. I hand-held my Canon 7D with the 100-400mm zoom lens. I picked him up in my view-finder, the auto-focus locked on, and I just panned with him as he flew by. I got lucky, with the background. When this image was captured, the background was blurred of course, but also there was a large building completely in shadow. Hence the completely black background. The stats are ISO 1600, 1/500 sec at f9.