Pardon Me While I Strut My Stuff

Egrets are definitely one of my favorite birds! As a member of the heron family, they hunt and live in both freshwater and saltwater marshes in various regions. In most instances, I am not able to get too close to one before it decides to moves on.  However, having a telephoto camera lens handy certainly helps to alleviate that problem.  I love how they have such pure white feathers and the gracefulness by which they fly.  It is said that they flap their wings about two times per second and glide along the sky at a speed of about 25 miles per hour.  Egrets are very skilled and resourceful when it comes to capturing their food.  They have no problem taking a swim from time to time or plunging into the water to grab their meal.

You may be wondering what's up with the feathery plumes extending out from the Egret in this expression.  These are called aigrettes and interestingly, this is where the word egret originated from.  These aigrettes are displayed by egrets during courtship.  In addition to the aigrettes, it is also said that a patch of skin on the egret's face turns neon green during the mating season as well.  Giving all of that, one could say that this egret is getting all dressed up to strut its stuff as it seeks to attract a suitable mate. You never know, there might have been a potential mate somewhere nearby admiring the display of this egret while I was capturing this expression.  If not, it at least had one admirer nearby who enjoyed the presentation—me!