Cattle Egrets, St Augustine Alligator Farm, St Augustine FL

I actually have little evidence that these are young Cattle Egrets…but, based on their very tentative attempts at mating and nest building, I suspect they are. They just did not have the air of a experienced pair. And there is definitely something about the look of Cattle Egrets in breeding plumage that invokes Happy Days…the Fonz…and all that. Or so it does to me.

Breeding season is the one season of the year when Cattle Egrets are actually attractive…again, in my opinion. Most of the year I find them stocky, dingy, and boring…totally lacking the elegance of their Great and Snowy cousins.  And then too, knowing that they are not native birds in North America…even if they did reach our shores under their own power…adds to my general disregard. Still, in breeding season, at the wild bire rookery at the Alligator Farm in St Augustine, it is hard to ignore them…and hard to deny their beauty!

Nikon P900 at 450mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 180 @ f5. -1/3 EV exposure compensation. Processed in Lightroom.