Elkhorn Slough. June 17, 2007Notes
These delicate, agile birds often feed by sprinting rapidly through shallow water, chasing schools of minnows and shrimp. This habit makes them easy to identify without seeing their bills and feet. Often several Snowies will be found feeding together, and it is thought that their white color, visible at great distances, lets other birds know where the feeding is good; the sprinting behavior also attracts other birds that then join in the feast. There is evidence that members of a pair of Snowy Egrets, like other large waders, cannot recognize one another except at the nest. Even there, a bird arriving to relieve its mate must perform an elaborate greeting ceremony in order to avoid being attacked as an intruder. During this display the plumes on the head are raised and the incoming bird bows to the one that is sitting. Appeased by this display, the sitting bird leaves and the other takes over.
These delicate, agile birds often feed by sprinting rapidly through shallow water, chasing schools of minnows and shrimp. This habit makes them easy to identify without seeing their bills and feet. Often several Snowies will be found feeding together, and it is thought that their white color, visible at great distances, lets other birds know where the feeding is good; the sprinting behavior also attracts other birds that then join in the feast. There is evidence that members of a pair of Snowy Egrets, like other large waders, cannot recognize one another except at the nest. Even there, a bird arriving to relieve its mate must perform an elaborate greeting ceremony in order to avoid being attacked as an intruder. During this display the plumes on the head are raised and the incoming bird bows to the one that is sitting. Appeased by this display, the sitting bird leaves and the other takes over.
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