The fish are jumping this week at the Salt Marsh in Inwood Hill Park, and the visiting Snowy Egret can’t get enough fish. It hunts all the time. While the Great Blue Heron and Great Egret gracefully and slowly stalk the fish, the Snowy Egret quickly runs around and stabs at whatever might be available, insects included. The egret prefers a grab-and-go method of fishing, and it’s hilarious to watch.
A ball of fluff with graceful upturned feathers at the tail, especially during breeding season, the Snowy Egret is characterized by its medium size relative to the much larger Great Egret, its black bill, and yellow feet.
The long plumes of a breeding Snowy Egret were once so valued by the fashion industry in the late nineteenth century that plume-hunting greatly endangered these birds. Conservation measures now protect them.
You won’t be able to see the brilliant yellow feet in the pictures from this week, because the Snowy was usually inches deep in the marsh muck. These egrets use their feet to shake out potential food sources from the waters.
A hint of the Snowy Egret’s yellow feet may be discerned in this picture.
Earlier in the week, I witnessed the resident Great Egret try to shoo away the smaller egret, but they seem to have worked out an agreement. The Snowy is a sociable bird, and I saw this one come in close contact with a Great Blue Heron and many ducks.
The Salt Marsh like the one in Inwood Hill Park provides a valuable habitat for these hungry marsh birds, and its future will depend on the conservation of wetlands.
Note to visitors: These summer days of late July are particularly good for observing a variety of egrets and herons at the Salt Marsh in Inwood Hill Park. The Ospreys are around as well. My previous post featured a juvenile Great Blue Heron and a Black-crowned Night Heron. An upcoming post will feature a delightful pair of juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons.
Cover image: Snowy Egret at the Salt Marsh, Inwood Hill Park. July 22, 2023. Subscribers, please see the website for a complete set of images.
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Birds of Inwood 
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