The Great Egret (Ardea alba) is one of our absolute favourite wetland birds. With its slender appearance, pristine plumage and elegant flight, this a magnificent bird and we feel privileged every time we see one. Not only does it feature in many of our photographs, it is also the inspiration for the most intricate quilt I have ever designed and made. Whether we observe it wading through the water or flying fluidly through the air, it does not fail to enthral. This graceful bird is the dazzling subject of our #11 Bird Photography Challenge.
What does it look like?
Soaring gracefully
The Great Egret is a large heron with snowy white plumage all over. Standing up to one meter tall, is it distinguishable from other white egrets by its yellow bill, its gape extending well beyond the eye, its sooty black long legs and feet. The feet are not webbed and have very long toes. In breeding plumage, delicate, lacy, ornamental plumes appear on the back, and curl over the tail. The Great Egret has a wingspan of 1m30 to 1m50. When aloft, it flies slowly but powerfully with its neck retracted.
Did you know?
Beautiful lacy breeding plumage
In the late 19th century, the long lacy feathers of the Great Egret were highly sought after by collectors and by the fashion industry to decorate ladies hats. This elegant bird was almost hunted to extinction. Today hunting Great Egrets is banned and they are protected by law. They are still listed as an endangered species in Victoria and Western Australia, however numbers have increased substantially.
How does it behave?
Although a solitary feeder when hunting and wading in the shallows, the Great Egret breeds in colonies in trees close to lakes and other wetlands. It builds a bulky stick nest. Both sexes incubate the eggs and care for the young.
Got you!
It feeds on fish, small molluscs and frogs, spearing them with its long, sharp bill, often by standing totally still for long periods, stalking, and allowing the prey to come within striking distance. The death blow is delivered with a swift thrust of the blade like bill and the prey is swallowed whole.
Where is it found?
Widespread throughout the world, the Great Egret is common in Australia, except in the more arid regions, along salt and freshwater marshes, swamps and tidal flats.
The images were taken at the Melbourne Botanical Gardens and at the wonderful Lake Borrie Wetlands where I captured our favourite photographs of the bird aloft. Click on any image in the gallery to display in full screen.
Sv-Anui 
Yes I agree this is a great bird and I too have a lovely quilt on my bed. Sue
You have Sue, and loaded with meaning!
We often see these birds in Moreton Bay, often feeding along the mudflats. I always wondered what they were, now I know – thank you! I look forward to reading about your next photo challenge.
Thanks Rachel- they are quite stunning, aren’t they!
Stunning Chris, I hope I get to see some of these.
You will be amazed at the variety… Let’s hope!
beautiful bird, beautiful shots and I love the quilt!!
Hello Cybele- egrets are enthralling and I don’t tire of seeing them in the wild or while sawing although this quilt was particularly challenging!
Fantastic action shots
Thanks Debbie- the egrets are always photogenic!
Hi Chris, great shots. I recently tried to get in some bird shots on our Holiday and most are useless, any tips? How do you usually set up for
a shot or do you just ‘wing’ it (sorry lol). What lense do you usually use, shutter speed etc?
Hi Julz For birds in flight I pan… It takes a bit of practice, but you follow the bird in the view finder and set your shutter on high speed riffle. I tend to shoot in aperture priority to control my DOF and let the camera do the rest… Have a look at the meta data on the photos and you will see the details. Another alternative is to set the camera on Servo mode which allows it to stay focused on the moving bird as you pan once you have pressed the shutter half way to focus. Very handy ! Give it a try with slow flying birds like egrets first.
thanks Chris, maybe I have been trying with quick birds at that. Cormorants and Tuis and Gulls. Got some great shots of Keas!! but they are a big slow bird 🙂
Yes Julz – try your hand at the big fat birds with sloooow wing beats like pelicans, not little swift ones like wrens… Too tricky! And min 1/500 sec for shutter speed😜
OMG I nearly fell off a small ledge (2m) trying to catch a damn silly wren that thing was SOOOOOOOOO quick lol, yes I’ll stick to pelicans, I have some lovely shots of pelicans!
OH and ducks, I have hundreds of photos of a Blue Duck in NZ
Lol – enough ducks ! OK Julz. Your challenge is to get a cormorant drying its wings 😀 and by the way you win the contest for the most comments in an afternoon! Love it! Chris
LOL>>>>>>>>>>>>thanks! a cormorant huh. I’ll have to see what I can find!
Hey Chris, last comment for the day……….i post this one in your honor, not a Cormorant, but not a duck either
https://photographicjewells.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/kea_alpine-parrot/
Hey Julz i’ll have a look tomorrow… We are anchored in the tiny little cove, surrounded by trees… Very pretty but no good for internet service. I don’t think I have ever seen a kea so looking forward to it. Till tomorrow 😊
have a good nite
Julz – I managed to get service ! What an odd looking bird! Well done- i like it! Left a comment on your site too😍nighty night!
Julz Re read your comment and realisedI forgot about the lens . canon 100 to 400 generally on 400, and my camera is a cropped sensor, so x 1.6… Gives me over 600…