Snowy egret

Friday
Roger and I are having a short break in south-west Florida, to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We flew down yesterday evening, and are staying in Naples. This morning we visited Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, managed by the Audubon Society. A 2.25-mile raised boardwalk takes visitors through several distinct habitats, including Pine Flatwood, Wet prairie, Lettuce Lakes and the largest remaining virgin bald cypress forest in North America. In the afternoon we went to Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park, and spent some time on the beach, where we saw quite a bit of bird life, including several osprey, the inevitable brown pelicans and this snowy egret. The snow egret can be distinguished from the great egret by its smaller size, its black bill, and yellow feet. In the latter part of the 19th century and into the early twentieth, snowy egret plumes were very popular on hats, and as a result these birds were hunted almost to extinction. Their favorite habitat is marshes, swamps, ponds, lakes, shallow coastal areas and tidal flats. Their main foods are fish, crabs, amphibians, and insects. Snowy egrets breed once a year, and females lay three to five greenish blue eggs that hatch in three to four weeks. Their platform-like nests are built primarily of twigs and are located in trees or even on the ground.
We had a wonderful meal out in the evening at Bonefish Grill.

One year ago: Another Knit for kids sweater