This page contains over 80 large images and composites
of the Egrets and Herons of Sanibel Island, Florida.

click an image to open a larger version
Use your back button to return to this page.
Composites will open in a second window.

Images on this page are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Featured Birds Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Images can be found in the following Galleries (Direct Links)

Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Little Blue Heron & Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret & Cattle Egret
Night Herons & Green Herons
Snowy Egret
 

Bunch Beach Sunrise 1150

A truly monumental Florida sunrise.
(This sunrise and the sunset shot at the bottom of the page are on both pages of this section)

Great Blue Heron Sunrise 1183

Great Blue Heron Sunrise 1248

The largest North American Heron, the
Great Blue is quite skittish, but the ones
at Sanibel are the most easily approached
of any in my experience to date. I guess they
are quite used to people being around them.

Great Blue Heron Sunrise 1239

The light on this heron at sunrise was spectacular, and the scene made for some
special shots. To be honest, Great Blues are so common (and I have so many good
shots of them) that I would often move on unless it was a special situation. This qualifies.

Great Blue Heron Sunrise 1256

Great Blue Heron Sunrise 1260

Great Blue Heron Sunrise 1859

You can find quite a number of other interesting shots of Great Blue Herons
(and other egrets and herons) on the Egret and Heron page in the Wildlife Studies section.

Great Blue Heron 9766, 9817

Great Blue Heron Sunset 1009

Catching the last rays near sunset.

Great Blue Heron Sunset 1087

Great Blue Heron SXXL

click for 1500 x 832 version

Available as an SXXL Signed Composite (7420 x 4116)

Great Egret Flock 1602

In my experience on the West Coast, there are rarely more than a few Great Egrets in
any one place. It is therefore unusual in the extreme to see a large flock of them flying by.
I shot this and the next one simply to record my amazement... they aren’t really study shots
or up to the quality of portfolio-grade images, but I thought you might find them unusual too.

Great Egret Flock 1603

Great Egret Flight 9869

Great Egret on Roof at Sunrise 0135

This Great Egret had found a good spot at sunrise, on top of the bait shack at Bunch Beach.
From here, he could watch for any opportunities. He didn’t miss many... and the light was nice too.

Great Egret Flip 0157-60

I have a large number of Great Egret shots taken in other locations, so I didn’t shoot many
when I was in Florida, but this scene could not be missed. Here is our hero performing the
“Flip”. This action started a real furor in the photographic community when I first posted an
image of a hunting Great Egret on Chincoteague Island doing this with a little Silversides.
All of a sudden, everyone started trying to figure out when Egrets or Herons would do it so
they could catch the ‘Reznick Flip’ (the birds tend to telegraph the action, but it is very fast
so you have to react accordingly. I didn’t name it, by the way). Anyway, when I posted this
(the bottom left image) everyone was sure it was Photoshop-created. Egrets and Herons
tend to do this because they can’t get prey back into their gullet any other way (they have
short tongues). Watch a bird for a while and you’ll figure out what they do before a ‘Flip’.

I’m posting the entire sequence here to avoid a similar controversy.

Great Egret Flip 0159

For more Great Egret shots, including some spectacular flight shots and hunting images,
try the Chincoteague Island Showcase page, the Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge Wildlife page,
and the Tern and Egret page in the Bolsa Chica Wildlife Refuge section. It’s worth the time.

Great Egret Flip XL

click for 1500 x 1014 version

Available as an XL Signed Composite (3009 x 2000)

Green Heron 1615

You don’t see these that often. The Green Heron
is a small heron. They often stand like this with the
neck pulled in tight to their body. They tend to stay
back in the brush during the day, preferring dawn
and dusk for hunting. They are very skittish herons.

Green Heron Flight 1551

When you do get a chance to watch them for
an extended period, you may see them drop
small insects at the waters edge to try to bait
a fish. This behavior is unusual, making them
one of the few tool-using creatures. Intelligent.

Little Blue Heron Sunrise 0591

Little Blue Heron Sunrise 0621

Little Blue Heron 1704

The Little Blue Heron doesn’t get to most of the places where I typically shoot, so this
was my first opportunity at them. I’m sure you’ll excuse me if I post a number of images.
They typically frequent warm swampy areas, and Florida is one of their favorite haunts.

You’ll notice the color difference between this bird and the ones below (the bird in the first
two images was in the golden light of sunrise, reflected off the water, and color is skewed).
The bird in this shot above is non-breeding (note the mostly blue head and neck). The mating
plumage is a purplish neck and head, which you’ll see below in the more mature birds.

Little Blue Heron 0926

Little Blue Heron 0928

Little Blue Heron 0931

Little Blue Heron 0933

Little Blue Heron with Snake 9767, 9768

This Little Blue Heron caught a snake sunning itself after sunrise, and is making off with the meal.
I saw this out of the corner of my eye and whipped the lens around for the shot. I have my cameras
set to fire when I depress the shutter button even while it is acquiring focus. The first shot is a bit soft
 because the camera was still tracking focus and hadn’t quite acquired the lock yet. The lower image
is a 1:1 (100%) crop of the original (it all happened about 150-200 feet across the beach from me).

Little Blue Heron 1404

Little Blue Heron, Performing “the Flip”

Yet another “Flip” shot. By the way, I love the look of long beaked birds head-on. Comical...

Little Blue Heron 1684

Little Blue Heron 0946, 0951

Little Blue Heron Sunset 0988

Little Blue Heron SXXL

click for 1500 x 764 version

Available as an SXXL Signed Composite (8078 x 4116)

Reddish Egret in Mangrove 1589

The Reddish Egret is another of the varieties that doesn’t often get to my ‘neck of the woods’.
They are in California occasionally (I’ve seen them at Bolsa Chica before) but it is rare. There
are only 1500-2000 breeding pairs in the entire USA (mostly in Texas), so it’s understandable.

There were several in Sanibel. This was a very scenic opportunity at one, standing on the
Mangrove roots over a perfect reflection, watching and waiting for prey to approach.

Reddish Egret Mangrove 9838

Reddish Egret Mangrove 9833

Reddish Egret 0619

Reddish Egret 1474

Reddish Egret 1483

Reddish Egret 0644

Reddish Egret 0639

Reddish Egret 0643

Reddish Egret 9844

Reddish Egret 1626

Reddish Egret 9853

Reddish Egret 1620

Reddish Egret SXXL

click for 1500 x 748 version

Available as an SXXL Signed Composite (8252 x 4116)

Snowy Egret Flight Study

The Egrets and Herons fly with their neck retracted and use their crest to blend the neck
and back feathers to reduce drag. It’s a very aerodynamic flight position.

Snowy Egret Juvenile Sunrise 0165

Snowy Egret Sunrise 0207

Snowy Egret Sunrise 1888

Strutting out of the water just as the sun comes up on Bunch Beach.

Snowy Egret with Prey Sunrise 0183

Snowy Egret with Prey Sunrise 0178

This fellow was competing with the gulls
 and the Great Egret shown above for fish
near the pier (and the bait shack).

Snowy Egret with Prey Sunrise 0188

Snowy Egret Losing Prey Sunrise 0190

A gull dives on a fish and startles our friend
enough so that he dropped his fish.

Snowy Egret Losing Prey Sunrise 0191

He took a step back but didn’t even
try to reacquire the fish.

Snowy Egret Losing Prey XXL

click for 1500 x 1122 version

Available as an XXL Signed Composite (4936 x 3692)

Snowy Egret with Prey Sunrise 0200

He caught another one almost right away. This one is quite a bit larger too...

Snowy Egret Sunrise 0236

Snowy Egret Sunrise 0232

Snowy Egret Sunrise 0248

Snowy Egret Sunrise 0240

Snowy Egret Sunrise 0245, 248

For more images of Snowy Egrets, including some spectacular hunting sequences, try
the Sepulveda Wildlife page and the Tern and Egret page in the Bolsa Chica section.

Snowy Egret Sanibel SXXL

click for 1500 x 792 version

Available as an SXXL Signed Composite (8240 x 4350)

Tricolor Heron 1628

Tricolor Heron 0383

The Tricolor is a Heron that I have not had any
experience with before Sanibel. They also tend
to frequent swamps in the Gulf and further south.

Tricolor Heron 1634

Tricolor Heron 1644

Tricolor Heron Flight 1599

Tricolor Heron 2138

Tricolor Heron Display 1533

Tricolor Heron Display 1534

This fellow had a lot of character.
He started a mating display when I approached.
Maybe he liked my long beak (the 500mm lens).

Tricolor Heron Display 1541

The “Ain’t I cute?” look, during the display.

Tricolor Heron Display 1542

Tricolor Heron Display 1548

Taaa-daaaah!

The entire display sequence is below, less a couple of non-essential shots.

Tricolor Heron Display XXXL

click for 1500 x 1029 version

Available as an XXXL Signed Composite (9916 x 6800)

Standard Composites are also available in Framed Versions.
Below is a digitally-Framed version of Tricolor Heron Display.

Tricolor Heron Display XXXL (Framed)

click for 1671 x 1200 version

Available as an XXXL Signed Composite (11668 x 8378)

There are many more composites displayed in the
Framed Composite Image Portfolio

Yellow Crowned Night Heron 2086

This is the Eastern relative of one of my
favorite birds, the Black Crowned Night Heron.

Yellow Crowned Night Heron 2117

They usually hunt at night (hence the name),
but this fellow was stalking prey at mid-day.

Yellow Crowned Night Heron 1565, 1575

Bunch Beach Sunset 1829

A dramatic Gulf Coast sunset...

Egrets and Herons Sanibel SXXXL

This one is a Composite of Composites, and makes an enormous poster.

click for 1643 x 1200 version

Available as an SXXXL Signed Composite (16532 x 12074)

Click the display composite above to see more of the Birds of Sanibel Island

Images on this page are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Featured Birds Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

Images can be found in the following Galleries (Direct Links)

Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Little Blue Heron & Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret & Cattle Egret
Night Herons & Green Herons
Snowy Egret