Reddish Egret Striking a Pose

One of my favorite shore birds is the Reddish Egret.  They are fun to watch when fishing as they raise their wings up to scare the fish.  They jump and fly around like a crazy person as they go after their prey.  They put lots of effort into it but are usually successful.  They can fish circles around nearby Great Egrets.  I’ve seen Great Egrets follow the Reddish Egrets around and then steal their fish away from them.

This Reddish Egret was hanging out last weekend at east beach on Galveston Island.  Initially was only getting silhouette shots of him and had to work my way around to get some better light.  Gotta love the early morning light…at least I do…

Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens

1/1,000 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400, spot metering, no flash, hand-held

1/1,000 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400, spot metering, no flash, hand-held