Snowy Egret
Egretta thula

The snowy egret is a resourceful hunter and uses no less than 21 different methods for catching fish and crustaceans in the water. These are: 1. standing; 2. bill vibrating; 3. head swaying; 4. pecking; 5. walking slowly; 6. walking quickly; 7. running; 8. hopping; 9. leapfrog feeding; 10. wing flicking; 11. open wing feeding; 12. underwing feeding; 13. foot stirring; 14. foot raking; 15. foot probing; 16. foot paddling; 17. hovering; 18. hover stirring; 19. dipping; 20. disturb and chase; 21. foot-dragging.

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Extracted from ‘A Bird A Day’ by Dominic Couzens, with illustrations by JJ Audubon. Out now, published by Batsford. You can order a copy (£20.00) here.