Eric Gofreed
Well-Known Member
This week’s theme is wide open with wings welcome, whether they’re soaring, fluttering, or simply striking a pose. What winged wonders have caught your eye lately? Birds, bugs, bats, butterflies, show us your favorites in flight or at rest!
Wading birds are the long-legged pros of shallow waters, hunting fish, insects, and amphibians in wetlands. This week, I’m diving into some of the most unusual wading birds I’ve photographed, creatures with striking looks and quirky habits. Next week, get ready for herons, the stealthy hunters of the marsh.
White Ibis (Florida): With its curved orange bill and snowy white plumage, the White Ibis has a striking presence in southern wetlands. Its long, down-curved bill is equipped with specialized sensory organs called Herbst corpuscles, letting it detect prey like insects and crustaceans by touch beneath the mud and shallow water. But these birds aren’t always peaceful. In this photo, a juvenile snaps back after an adult’s warning nip.
Seeing an American Bittern in flight is a rare reward, this secretive marsh bird is usually hidden among reeds, relying on camouflage and stillness. But when airborne, its broad wings and slow, steady beats show a quiet strength. One fascinating detail: the bittern’s eyes are set low in the sockets and angled downward, helping it spot prey below when its head is level. To see the horizon, the bittern must lift its bill skyward, a behavior that makes its classic “sky-gazing” pose both iconic and functional. (North Dakota)
Avocets (Arizona): In their vibrant breeding plumage, avocets are delicate and graceful waders. Their long legs and uniquely upturned bills sweep side to side as they feed, skimming for tiny prey. This elegant feeding style, paired with warm rusty tones and bold patterns, makes avocets beautifully odd and a favorite subject for photographers.
Black-necked Stilts are among the most striking waders, with impossibly long pink legs and bold black-and-white plumage. Their delicate build and precise, deliberate movements give them an almost balletic grace. Feeding in shallow water, they pick delicately at the surface for insects and small aquatic life. Stilts are one of the most delicate and elegant oddities among wading birds.
Roseate Spoonbills (Florida): With their vivid pink plumage and spoon-shaped bills, Roseate Spoonbills are unmistakable. Their color is partly inherited—their bodies are built to process pigments—but the richness of that pink depends on their diet, especially the carotenoids in the crustaceans they eat. Their feeding is just as distinctive: wading through shallow water, they sweep their open bills side to side, snapping shut when they sense movement. Equal parts flamboyant and efficient, spoonbills are among the most unusual and captivating waders in North America.
The Jabiru is a giant among wading birds, with a massive black bill, vivid red throat pouch, and commanding presence. Found in Central and South America, it feeds by slowly sweeping its open bill through shallow water, snapping it shut when it senses prey. Its size, striking looks, and unusual technique make it one of the oddest and most memorable waders. (Brazil)
Red-legged seriema — The Wader That Isn't (Brazil)
At first glance, the Red-legged Seriema could be mistaken for a wading bird. Its long legs, upright stance, and graceful stride appear to be related to herons or egrets. But looks can be deceiving. Seriema is not a bird of marshes and wetlands. It’s a grassland specialist, found striding across open savannas and scrublands of South America.
This resemblance is a beautiful example of convergent evolution: different species, shaped by different environments, evolving similar physical traits to suit their lifestyles. Where wading birds use their long legs to hunt in shallow water, the Seriema uses its legs to run down prey on dry land, often stomping lizards or insects before swallowing them whole. Its expressive crest, sharp bill, and unmistakable call make it a charismatic oddball—more kin to cranes than to egrets, but an eye-catching lesson in how form and function don’t always point to the same habitat. It’s a wader in appearance, but a grasslander by nature.
Wading birds are the long-legged pros of shallow waters, hunting fish, insects, and amphibians in wetlands. This week, I’m diving into some of the most unusual wading birds I’ve photographed, creatures with striking looks and quirky habits. Next week, get ready for herons, the stealthy hunters of the marsh.
White Ibis (Florida): With its curved orange bill and snowy white plumage, the White Ibis has a striking presence in southern wetlands. Its long, down-curved bill is equipped with specialized sensory organs called Herbst corpuscles, letting it detect prey like insects and crustaceans by touch beneath the mud and shallow water. But these birds aren’t always peaceful. In this photo, a juvenile snaps back after an adult’s warning nip.
Seeing an American Bittern in flight is a rare reward, this secretive marsh bird is usually hidden among reeds, relying on camouflage and stillness. But when airborne, its broad wings and slow, steady beats show a quiet strength. One fascinating detail: the bittern’s eyes are set low in the sockets and angled downward, helping it spot prey below when its head is level. To see the horizon, the bittern must lift its bill skyward, a behavior that makes its classic “sky-gazing” pose both iconic and functional. (North Dakota)
Avocets (Arizona): In their vibrant breeding plumage, avocets are delicate and graceful waders. Their long legs and uniquely upturned bills sweep side to side as they feed, skimming for tiny prey. This elegant feeding style, paired with warm rusty tones and bold patterns, makes avocets beautifully odd and a favorite subject for photographers.
Black-necked Stilts are among the most striking waders, with impossibly long pink legs and bold black-and-white plumage. Their delicate build and precise, deliberate movements give them an almost balletic grace. Feeding in shallow water, they pick delicately at the surface for insects and small aquatic life. Stilts are one of the most delicate and elegant oddities among wading birds.
Roseate Spoonbills (Florida): With their vivid pink plumage and spoon-shaped bills, Roseate Spoonbills are unmistakable. Their color is partly inherited—their bodies are built to process pigments—but the richness of that pink depends on their diet, especially the carotenoids in the crustaceans they eat. Their feeding is just as distinctive: wading through shallow water, they sweep their open bills side to side, snapping shut when they sense movement. Equal parts flamboyant and efficient, spoonbills are among the most unusual and captivating waders in North America.
The Jabiru is a giant among wading birds, with a massive black bill, vivid red throat pouch, and commanding presence. Found in Central and South America, it feeds by slowly sweeping its open bill through shallow water, snapping it shut when it senses prey. Its size, striking looks, and unusual technique make it one of the oddest and most memorable waders. (Brazil)
Red-legged seriema — The Wader That Isn't (Brazil)
At first glance, the Red-legged Seriema could be mistaken for a wading bird. Its long legs, upright stance, and graceful stride appear to be related to herons or egrets. But looks can be deceiving. Seriema is not a bird of marshes and wetlands. It’s a grassland specialist, found striding across open savannas and scrublands of South America.
This resemblance is a beautiful example of convergent evolution: different species, shaped by different environments, evolving similar physical traits to suit their lifestyles. Where wading birds use their long legs to hunt in shallow water, the Seriema uses its legs to run down prey on dry land, often stomping lizards or insects before swallowing them whole. Its expressive crest, sharp bill, and unmistakable call make it a charismatic oddball—more kin to cranes than to egrets, but an eye-catching lesson in how form and function don’t always point to the same habitat. It’s a wader in appearance, but a grasslander by nature.
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