It’s been a long, hot summer - 90+F almost every day for 3-plus months. We had a cool (mid 80s) weekend a couple of weeks ago and we drove down to Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center. This Great Egret (Ardea alba) on a snag in the middle of Margery Lake was one of several enjoying the sun. It wasn’t until I downloaded the pics that I found that a couple of large turtles were sharing the same snag.
The Great Egret is actually a white heron rather than an egret, and a species in the genus Ardea as is the Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias). They migrate through this area in Spring and Fall.
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Identification resources:
- The Cornell Institute of Ornithology: Great Egret (Ardea alba)
Related posts:
- Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
Be careful describing Great Egrets as the white form of the Great Blue Heron - there is actually a population of all-white Great Blue Herons in extreme southern Florida and the Florida Keys, sometimes referred to as Great White Herons, although they're really the same species (Ardea herodias). They differ from Great Egrets in having yellow legs. Gorgeous photo, though!
ReplyDeleteHi Rebecca. Welcome to Georgia. Hope you're settling in.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this comment. I'm going to revise the post to refer to it as a cousin of the Great Blue - which is what I had in the first place since it is a different species. I changed it to 'the white form' of the Great Blue based on a statement on the Cornell site which I may have misinterpreted. Thanks for clarifying this for me.