Snowy egrets are showing up in eastern Idaho

Last Saturday while driving along the canal toward the South Boat Ramp on Mud Lake, an almost all-white bird flew across in front of me. It was headed toward a small irrigation ditch that’s water was receding after the field had been watered. It was a welcome sight as I had not seen a Snowy egret in this area for over three years.

I watched as it landed, then I turned around, drove back to the ditch and parked. It was not the only bird hunting for fish that had been stranded by the disappearing water; another snowy was there, along with several great blue herons, an American bittern and nine black-capped night herons. They were all looking for dinner to show up as most of them stood motionless on the muddy bank, but not the egrets.

One of the egrets was working away from me, while the other one was wading down the center of the ditch coming towards me. A half an hour wait paid off as it got close enough for me to start photographing it.

I noticed that as it waded along, it would shuffle its bright yellow feet as it approached a tumbleweed half submerged in the water. When a water bug scurried out, it became an appetizer for the bird. Finally, the main course was served when a small fish was flushed from its hiding place as the egret plunged its head under the water to grab it.

One of the great blue herons saw the capture and flew in to steal the meal, but the egret got the fish into position and swallowed it headfirst before the heron got there. I watched the relationship between these two birds for another hour-and-a-half before the evening light began to fade and a rain shower started. It appeared that the heron was a young one as it attempted several times to capture a fish, only to come up with a mouth full of mud. It also appeared to not get its feet wet, as each time it tried to capture the fish from the bank.

Snowy egrets are not strangers to southeastern Idaho; they have been common at Mud Lake and at Market Lake, but during the last three years, they have been “no shows.” Some experts think the recent drought has dried up many of their summering areas and they stayed around the Great Salt Lake area.

Idaho has had only a few confirmed reports of them nesting here and in my experience, I have only seen one here that was dressed up in their reproduction plumage. That sighting was near the confluence of the South Fork and the Henrys Fork of the Snake River, seven years ago. On a trip to Texas to look for migrating warblers a few years ago, I saw many of them nesting in trees.

During breeding season, they grow white wispy feathers on their back, heads and neck and their normally yellow feet turn to a brilliant orange. During the 1880s egrets were harvested for those beautiful feathers to be sold for up to $32 per ounce to adorn women’s hats. They were worth twice as much as gold at that time.

Early summer is a great time to observe many species of birds because many of the males hang around in their beautiful colors while the hens sit on their nests. Snowy egrets in our area appear to be non-breeding, young, immature birds; we live too far north to have breeding birds here. But they appear to be expanding their nesting territory to the north as the climate continues to warm and if they began nesting here, the males will help by also sitting on the nest instead of lounging around.

Now is a good time to visit flooded hay fields, marshland and the banks of creeks, canals and shallow lakes for these stunning birds. Let me know if you find one in their breeding colors. Have a great and a safe week in the great outdoors.