• Visit
  • Cistern
  • Events & Tours
  • Support
  • Donate
  • Plans & Programs
  • About Us
  • Public Art
  • Rentals & Permits
  • Calendar
Menu
donate trail map
Buffalo Bayou Partnership
  • Visit
    • Buffalo Bayou Park
    • Cistern
    • Allen’s Landing
    • Buffalo Bend Nature Park
    • Public Art along Buffalo Bayou
    • Trail Closures
  • Events & Tours
    • Calendar
    • Cistern Tours
    • Boat Tours
    • Walking Tours
    • Programación en Español
    • BBP Regatta
  • Rentals & Permits
    • Sunset Coffee Building
    • The Water Works in Buffalo Bayou Park
    • Eleanor Tinsley Park
    • Barbara Fish Daniel Picnic Pavilion
    • Permits
  • Support
    • Join as a Member
    • Become a BBP Patron
    • Volunteer with Buffalo Bayou Partnership
    • Donate
    • The Currents
    • Buffalo Bayou Boutique
  • Plans & Programs
    • Buffalo Bayou East
    • “Deeper Dive” Virtual Presentation Series
    • Waterway Clean Up
  • About Us
  • News
    • Press
    • Newsletters

Other Nations: A Naturalist’s Blog about Buffalo Bayou
by Alisa Kline

Feb 13

Two Egrets Hunting

We have just one Park and just one bayou within it, but lots of different shore birds find ways of staying fed on the same basic diet (fish, amphibians, insects and crustaceans.) You might imagine, given that this, that our Park is a battleground of all against all.  But that’s not what happens. Each animal hunts differently and because of that, they aren’t really competing with each other so much as divying up the spoils.

This week, we watch two birds try to eat.

Bird one is a planetary* great egret. Bird two is a snowy egret, likely the same one that kept losing to the cormorant in last week’s post. The great egret was very successful. The snowy egret, well, we might have to worry about this bird. The species specializes in creativity, but our guy might be pushing that strategy to new limits.

The Great Egret

The main great egret hunting strategies are 1. standing very still (this is used mostly at the edge of a body of water); and 2. stalking very slowly (this is used mostly on land). 

The video below shows a great egret stalking. The way it moves is really strange. It is as if the bird reaches out its beak and grabs hold of a stationary object. Then, uses that grip to pull the rest of the body forward. I imagine the benefit of this is that the bird’s vision (which is sharp) stays maximally steady so as to detect any movement that might indicate prey.

https://buffalobayou.org/bbpwordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Head-steady-great-egret-walking.mp4

 

During the video, the egret wobbled its neck a few times. It isn’t so obvious in this video, but in the next one neck wobbling is on full display.

https://buffalobayou.org/bbpwordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/great-egret-neck-wobble-1.mp4

 

That neck wobble is a hunting strategy. As we saw in the first video, a great egret stalking prey is all about limited motion. Except that neck wobble. The theory about the wobble is that it might induce movement in prey, but it doesn’t give away the exact location from which the strike will occur (head).

This next video shows a successful stalk, wobble and capture. It features more than just a wobble. This shows a full on neck wave strong enough to move the body along with it. It doesn’t intuitively seem a brilliant strategy, but the tasty lizard at the end proves otherwise.

https://buffalobayou.org/bbpwordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Full-body-waggle-with-capture.mp4

I saw this great egret have three successful strikes during the 20 minutes or so I watched him.

The Snowy Egret

While great egrets use two, energy-conserving hunting strategies (standing and stalking), snowy egrets use lots of different and mostly energetic methods. Last week we watched the snowy chase after fish by running and flying. They also use stillness, like the great egret, but more often stir the bottom with their yellow feet, stirring up small prey, they stalk, they run, they dive from above, they use subterfuge, and then they make up new and heretofore unseen methods, that weren’t in this case successful, but must be more often than not or our well-fed snowy egret wouldn’t be so gorgeous!

This is a snowy egret in full breeding plumage. Likely the same one from last week’s post. I caught sight of him in the circular cement area where water flows in from storm drains. Not the one near Sabine bridge, but the one further west from there.

This bird seems to be using a strategy (not successfully) of dripping water from its bill to lure fish from deeper water to the surface. I haven’t found any references in the literature to this as hunting strategy employed by snowy egrets, but the video makes the behavior obvious and it is not unlike another deep-water hunting technique known to be used by snowies. They will wade into deep water and vibrate their bills, trying to mimic the vibrations of an insect trapped by surface tension. The fish/frog comes to the surface hoping for a meal only to become one.

The area this bird was in is full of red eared sliders (turtles). You can see their bubbles from time to time. Red eared sliders will eat small fish and other living creatures not just plants. So it isn’t far fetched to think that this might be a good hunting spot.

https://buffalobayou.org/bbpwordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/drip-hunting-snowy-egret.mp4

 

*I have decided to name all great egrets feeding away from the bayou “planetary.” When the ancient Greeks watched the night sky, they noticed that some of the stars wandered around. They named these stars wanderers, which in ancient Greek was apparently planetos.  Which is how we got the word planet. 

tags: Bird Watching, Birding, Buffalo Bayou Houston, Buffalo Bayou Park, Buffalo Bayou Wildlife, Houston Birds, Houston green space, Houston Parks, Houston Wildlife, Master Naturalist, Native Birds, Other Nations Blog, Texas Birds, Texas Master Naturalist, Texas Parks, Wildlife blog, wildlife houston

categories: Buffalo Bayou Birds

“[Animals] are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”

—Henry Beston, The Outermost House

 

For sightings, questions or comments email blog@alisakline.com.

Blog Categories

  • Bats
  • Beavers
  • Birds
  • Buffalo Bayou Birds
  • Fish
  • Flora
  • Galveston
  • Houston Naturama
  • Hurricane Harvey
  • Insects
  • Reptiles

Blog Tags

Beavers in Houston bee bees bees in houston Birding Bird Watching Buffalo Bayou Houston Buffalo Bayou Park Buffalo Bayou Wildlife butterflies butterfly carpenter bee Cliff Swallows Cormorants Dragonfly european honey bee European Starlings Green Tree Nature Trail Herons honeybee Houston Houston Animals Houston Beavers Houston Birds Houston butterfly Houston flora Houston flowers Houston green space Houston insects Houston Parks Houston Wildlife Master Naturalist Native Birds Other Nations Blog pollinators Starlings texas bees Texas Birds Texas flora Texas Master Naturalist Texas Parks Texas reptiles Urban beavers Wildlife blog wildlife houston

Get Involved

There are plenty of ways to get involved with keeping our parks and trails growing and the bayou flowing! Check out our Volunteer Opportunities or become a Buffalo Bayou Partnership Member today.

Membership Volunteer

Stay Connected

Buffalo Bayou Boutique

Looking for a unique gift? Shop our Buffalo Bayou Boutique!
Shop Now
  • Home
  • Visit
  • Support
  • Plans & Programs
  • About Us
  • News

1019 Commerce Street, Suite 200
Houston, TX 77002

t : 713.752.0314    f : 713.223.3500
info@buffalobayou.org

© 2023 Buffalo Bayou Partnership.
website by CORE Design Studio. Log in

Back to Top Events & Tours