A heron that is found in shallow salt water, the Reddish Egret is the most uncommon of all in the United States. The species comes in two morphs, white and dark, both of which can be found in the same nest.
Dark morph Reddish Egret
Also the most acrobatic of the species, this wader runs, jumps, spins about, and is most famous for its canopy hunting technique. Not only does it run with wings raised, it flies over shallow water seeking groups of fish, which are rapid movers, necessitating that it move in the same manner. It takes about three years for a Reddish Egret to become skillful at this form of feeding.
Having a pink bill with a black tip, a medium to large sized bird, it also has blue-gray legs as a defining feature. The white morph is just that with the same color scheme on the bill. The dark morph is blue- or slate-gray with a reddish neck and head, and the immature is paler, but the red-brown neck could be missing. It tales three years for the adult plumes, and the mature lores are bright violet, as is the bill and legs.
White morph Reddish Egret
As many of our beautiful herons suffered greatly due to the millinery trade, this bird never really recovered, and the current difficulty is habitat degradation. There remains only 1500 to 2000 pairs of this colorful bird, and they are coastal denizens nesingt in colonies with other herons. Their lavish courtship displays are very animated, involving shaking the head, hooplike flight, bill clacking, and raising head, neck, and back feathers.
Reddish Egrets nest on stick platforms, as many other herons do. It is suspected that some of them nest inland in Texas.
These birds are classified as near threatened. They are found in the Caribbean, southern coastal, California coastal, and will migrate to the southeast coast of the US. Most of the population resides in Texas, followed by Florida, then Louisiana. This specialized heron likes barren and shallow flats that are quite salty. The diet is mostly killifish and sheephead minnows, followed by crustaceans and frogs.
The sounds of the Reddish Egret, courtesy of Audubon.
https://cdn.audubon.org/cdn/farfuture/btkjmiDSSZqxnV8nC9-TNdaomWhrD8gwL2S3UIqUX-k/mtime:1416244730/sites/default/files/REDEGR_1.croaksampothercalls_MEXms_1.mp3?uuid=5b51033593783
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