Bolsa Chica Red Egret

Today at the Bolsa Chica Wetlands it was very quite. There were not many birds about. Then I came upon the Red Egret. There is a pair that came up from, it is believed, Baja California a couple of years ago and they have been around since.
The red egret fishes a bit different then their smaller white and larger white egret. The white egrets usually wait for the fishes or they wiggle there feet in the water to find other things to eat. The egret will look for fish actively walking around until they come upon some fish. They will then spread out there wings to put the fish in shadow and “herd” the fish into shallows were they will then pick one off. The dance is quite remarkable to watch.
I wanted to give a little background into the red egret and how rare the red egret is at the wetlands so a photograph opportunity is very special. See the series of photographs of the red egrets.

Getting a good shot of this egret is very difficult.  It is much more nervous then the white variety of egrets.  A telephoto lens is a must.  The day was overcast when I got this image and there is not much that can be done about that.  If it were sunny out the colors would have been much more vivid.  This image was shot with the 100mm – 400mm and was cropped heavily.  I was a bit outside the distance to get really close up detail shot of this unique and interesting bird.  The image still shows an impressive dance that this egret goes through when looking for food.  I would say a tripod would be needed as the distance makes noise a blurring more of a concern.

For bird photography there is a special tripod.  The head swivels up and down and side to side,  It is great when getting the flight shots but still holds the camera steady to help prevent blurring and get a good sharp image.