An Interview with a Juvenile Reddish Egret at Long Key State Park!

Today at Long Key State Park, we had an hour to free roam the beach of Anne's Beach. At this beach, a lot of people decided to go snorkeling, but what I saw was a shaded boardwalk that extended through a trail of mangroves and sea grapes. As I walked along the boardwalk, I ran into two people that said that there were no beaches on the other end, but I decided to continue walking anyway and thanked them. I walked along the boardwalk alone, taking in the sounds and sights, when a giant red stop sign came up and the other side of the boardwalk was blocked off. I looked around trying to see if there were other places to walk along and saw a nice sandy trail towards a small beach that was also heavily shaded. Kelly caught up to me as I was putting on my water shoes and we walked the trail together. Once by the mangroves, there was a small little pool area of the beach water that was residing under the mangroves. Then, when we thought we didn't see anything, a juvenile reddish egret stalked out of the bushes and into the wading pool. I got closer to ask it a few questions...

Question 1: Why are you here at a beach?

Well, reddish egrets like myself enjoy wading in the calm, shallow coastal waters. We enjoy coastal tide flats, salt marshes, shores, and lagoons. Most of my food is in this area, but I also like protected bays and estuaries.

Question 2: What do you eat in these shallow waters?

I like eating smaller bony fish. Sometimes, if it's really sunny out I spread my wings and all the little fish get attracted to my shade and then I get to eat them! I'm not going to show you that today because we are already in a shaded area.

Question 3: How come I haven't seen a lot of your species around?

Sadly, our species is threatened because we have been hunted for our beautiful feathers in the past. They have been used for women's hats and clothing. Luckily, that stopped around the mid 1800's and we have very slowly beginning to repopulate. But we have many predators like raccoons and coyotes that eat our eggs because our nests are usually lower to the ground.

Shortly after, the reddish egret said its goodbyes and went to another area to eat. If you want to learn more about the reddish egret click here.