The Mythical White Morph Reddish Egret - And More

Six months had passed since my last visit to Fort De Soto Park and I was really excited about Saturday’s visit. I arrived at sunrise, stopping first at a known nesting site for a Great Horned Owl. There were already four other photographers around the nest, all keeping quiet from a respectful distance. The owl was perched on top of a bare palm tree out in the open. There was only one shot - straight up with a plain sky background. Fortunately the owl was facing the rising sun. I took a few shots, and in one of them the nestling peered out from under mom’s wing and gave a nice big yawn. More photographers trickled in and after about 15 minutes I took my leave and went to the beach while we were still in the golden hour.

Great Horned Owl and nestling. Nikon Z8 with tripod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/800 sec, ISO 1600.

The beach parking lot was thankfully light on cars, the air was cool, and a nice breeze kept the bugs away. It was fantastic. Walking out, I told myself that I wasn’t going to lay down in the sand and get all dirty. Not today. Well, that didn’t last long at all. I very quickly found a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers and a young Reddish Egret working together while foraging in the shallows at low tide. Almost instinctively I went down on the ground to get at eye level with the mergansers. So much for not getting dirty on this trip.

Red-breasted Merganser. Golden hour sunlight lighting up the merganser. Nikon Z8 with handheld Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/1600 sec, ISO 280.

Osprey’s were flying all over the place in search of nesting material. Most of the time I saw them trying to pick up big, heavy branches, but eventually they gave up for something smaller - like this small piece of wood.

Osprey. Carrying nesting material. Nikon Z8 with handheld Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/2500 sec, ISO 320.

I soon came across the near mythical white morph Reddish Egret. It is a beautiful bird and is coming into breeding plumage with its distinct two-toned bill. In about a month the lores around the eyes should be vibrant blue.

Reddish Egret (white morph). The white morph of the Reddish Egret is much scarcer than the dark morph. This is the bird we all come to see at Fort De Soto and rarely do. When crossing paths with other photographers at De Soto, they frequently ask, “Have you seen the white morph?” On this day I could answer “Yes!” Nikon Z8 with handheld Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/2500 sec, ISO 400.

Reddish Egret (white morph). Nikon Z8 with handheld Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/2500 sec, ISO 360.

Reddish Egret (white morph). It is always interesting to watch the Reddish Egret run around in circles, throwing its wings around, darting here and there, and all it ever seems to catch are these teeny tiny little fish. Nikon Z8 with handheld Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/2500 sec, ISO 400.

After about 20 minutes with the white morph three dark morph Reddish Egrets flew in. They chased off the white morph which is something I and others have seen before. They clearly don’t get along very well. The three dark morphs were two adults and a sub-adult. They got to work right away.

Reddish Egret (dark morph). The much more common dark morph, running around with wings stretched to corral its prey. Nikon Z8 with handheld Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/3200 sec, ISO 450.

Reddish Egret. Moving down the beach to find a better fishing spot. Nikon Z8 with handheld Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/3200 sec, ISO 500.

There have been a few storms since my last visit and the area of beach I was visiting has drastically changed. Once dense with low foliage, the area is now open sand. Plovers used to nest in that foliage, so we will have to see how they respond to the changes. Despite the changes, I noticed plovers all over the place. In fact, I saw all five Plover species that visit Florida - the Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Snowy Plover, Wilson’s Plover, and the Piping Plover.

Piping Plover. Plovers are often overlooked by photographers. I think they are some of the best birds at Fort De Soto. Nikon Z8 with handheld Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/1250 sec, ISO 200.

When photographing birds on white sand, it’s best to be in full manual mode. If you use any automatic mode (which includes auto-ISO) on white sand your camera will underexpose the photos. Remember, your camera wants to bring your histogram to the middle. It interprets bright white sand as too white and will darken the exposure. The resulting photos will be underexposed with your white sand coming out neutral gray. I shot in full manual mode one full stop over what the camera indicated was the “correct” exposure, ignoring the “blinkies” through the viewfinder. The result: all of my shots were perfectly exposed with white - not gray - sand and birds. No highlights were blown.

Wilson’s Plover. Notice the thick bill it uses to break into fiddler crabs. Nikon Z8 with handheld Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/1250 sec, ISO 200.

Snowy Plover. Nikon Z8 with handheld Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/1250 sec, ISO 200.

Black-bellied Plover. Not yet in breeding plumage, but a handsome bird nonetheless. Nikon Z8 with handheld Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/2000 sec, ISO 320.

Marbled Godwits were also working the shallows with the Reddish Egrets and the mergansers. These guys use their long bills to masterfully probe the sand and mud to pull out worms. Additionally, two Greater Yellowlegs made an appearance while I was laying on the sand photographing the Marbled Godwits. They came so close to me that I couldn’t frame up and focus on them most of the time, but I was able to get a few shots in as they ran around me.

Marbled Godwit. This bird is still in non-breeding plumage. Barred feathers will come in on the underside when it comes into breeding status.

Greater Yellowlegs. Nikon Z8 with handheld Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/2500 sec, ISO 320.

Royal Terns, Laughing Gulls, Black Skimmers, Sandwich Terns and more were roosting on a sandbar and bathing in the shallows. They were an absolute joy to watch and I got some great bathing and birds-in-flight photos.

Royal Tern bathing. Nikon Z8 with handheld Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/3200 sec, ISO 500.

Royal Tern. Flying in to take a bath. Nikon Z8 with handheld Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/3200 sec, ISO 640.

Near the end of my day at Fort De Soto, a flock of about 50 American White Pelicans flew in. They are incredibly big compared to Brown Pelicans and are magnificent. They lined up and I took a number of shots to create a panorama (that’ll come later). For now, here’s one of the many photos I took of these amazing birds.

American White Pelican. Nikon Z8 with handheld Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/11, 1/2000 sec, ISO 1250.

On my way out, I spotted an Osprey creating a nest in a fairly low tree next to the parking lot. I got a few photos, but it flew off before I could get in a better position. While waiting for it to return, I spotted (or rather heard) a few noisy Nanday Parakeets in a nearby tree. You just never know what you’ll find at De Soto!

Nanday Parakeet. Nikon Z8 with handheld Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/2500 sec, ISO 640.

All of these pictures were taken on a single day at Fort De Soto, and only represent about a quarter of the birds I saw and photographed. While the rest of the country is weathering tough winter conditions, the birding at Fort De Soto is fantastic!

As always, I invite you to come along and join me on a Photo Walk at Fort De Soto.

Happy birding!