Reddish Egret
Sharing the lagoon with a White Ibis and a Snowy Egret
Flying in
These conspicuously long-legged, long-necked waders are coastal birds more tied to salt water than any of our other herons or egrets.
They often draw attention to themselves because of their feeding behavior: running through the shallows with long strides, staggering sideways, leaping in the air, raising one or both wings, and abruptly stabbing at fish.
Their feeding movements are often likened to a drunken sailor.
“Leucistic is generally when the plumage is all lighter than normal but the annual is not an albino, which pertains to an animal with no pigment at all. Leucistic animals have some pigment, but not the normal darker coloration of the rest of their particular species. On the other side of the spectrum is melanistic, in which case the birds are darker than normal for their species, as these animals have an overabundance of pigmentation.” Thank you Ann Paul!!!!!!!
They also feed by standing still with partly spread wings: schools of small fish may instinctively seek shelter in the shaded area under the wings and can then be more easily stabbed by the egret.
However, this Reddish Egret is not leucistic according to Audubon Florida Guru, Ann Paul, and I am forever grateful to her for her expertise on this matter. These birds are called “pied.”
There is a dark morph/phase
and a White Morph/phase
and an different coloration in the young birds
So with all the various color patterns (“pied,” “leucism,” “melanistic,” “albinism”), it’s probably safer to just say that some species have colorations that are lighter or darker than is normal for that species.
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