Today I bring you two firsts, well, at least in my adult life starting with our recent trip down to Springfield, IL for a CPE Agility trail at the state fairgrounds. This is a homecoming for me as I was born and raised there and have spent countless hours hanging out at the fair while growing up. Some kids hang out at the malls or local car-hops, Springfieldians have acres and acres of dangerous as hell rides, rigged games, farm animals and temporary carney/fair girls (don’t ask) to keep us entertained. We do not get down there very often these days now that my parents are no longer with us, so a chance to walk the grounds and recall childhood memories is “usually” a fun time – until last weekend. In short I ended up getting “swarmed” by self-important sheriff deputies apparently so bad at their jobs they are reduced to protecting pavement and empty buildings. Glossing over most of the encounter to keep your eyes from rolling too much, but I decided to get a walk in between the boy’s runs heading out to the conservation area having familiar windy paths, a small pond and lots of trees for….yes, birds! Thought I heard a Fish Crow which is unusual there, so whipped out Merlin which confirmed it putting me on the hunt. Walked through the always open gates at the back scanning the trees and water for the rarity. No Crow, but noticed a black car following me around trying to be discrete – not good at it – game on. I’d take a path away from it and it would have to creep back and navigate back to another position to watch me. When the car got to the new place I’d change direction causing another move….this went on for a while – keep in mind I still had my phone out with Merlin hunting birds. Reinforcements were called in and I see an ATV pull up in a nearby parking lot, guy in black car pulls up to it, guy jumps out, has an excited discussion with the ATV occupants, all jump in the ATV and come after me – they got me now. I am practically laughing now as they pull up and demand to know what I am doing – “I’m looking for birds” and show him the list of birds Merlin has already found (and cleverly still recording so I had an audio track for whatever was coming down). He intently looks at the screen and proclaims an individual saw me and said I was acting “suspicious” and wanted to know how I got here. “Through that open gate over there” – mind you there is NO gate on the other end so the state of that gate is irrelevant. I get some okay we are just checking out the situation garble and they leave clearly disappointed they were denied the highlight of their year. This was all rich coming from a declared sanctuary state and apparently it is the victim’s fault if you are gunned down taking a walk in Chicago (link here). Not to mention the humorous fact my grandfather was a police chief of Spfld, uncle fire chief, cousin police dispatcher, youth baseball coaches were sergeants on the force. Saved the Merlin recording of the interaction and continued my walk more confident in my young decision to choose a career elsewhere.
Fortunately, my other first is far more exciting, a breeding Reddish Egret.
Hit the jump to read more about this second installment of Breeding Plumage in honor of April.
If you recall, in my last post the star of the show was a breeding Tricolored Heron showing off its “goods” in hopes of wooing the opposite sex. That transformation into their neon blue bills sighting was courtesy of a spring trip to Texas. Needless to say, that wasn’t the only species putting on their frisky seeking digs while we were down there.
The dark morph (the more common) Reddish Egret also takes on brighter hues for the mating season. Like the Tricolored Heron, the lores (space between the eyes and the bill) turn a neon blue, however, a stunning pink shade extends out to near the end of the bill where it transitions back to their traditional dark coloring to the tip.
Their shaggy manes and neck also get more voluminous as new plumes emerge with a brighter rufous tone clearly radiating it’s time to put on the dancing shoes and hit the clubs. You can’t see it due to the fluffy feathering, but they have their top buttons undone to prominently display their gold chains while humming the Bee Gees.
For the curious, these shots were taken at Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center in Port Aransas, Texas. There isn’t much else that can be said about this incredible hotspot that I haven’t already covered in the numerous posts I’ve made about the feathered treasures that can be found there. Pretty sure other birders that have had the opportunity to visit this location would concur – if you haven’t been there, go – especially now that the American Flamingo has decided to take up residence – except for the one week we were down there this year when it decided to go visit relatives AAARRRGGGHH!!!
Now, the odd element to this sighting is I usually post on the white morphs that seem to be in abundance at this particular spot (link here). In fact, I am not sure I have ever featured a dark morph Reddish Egret from this particular location (note, later confirmed this was a true statement). As a result, this ended up sending me down a giant rabbit hole with regards to the breeding plumage of the white morph variety.
The scintillating question was whether the white morph takes on the same color changes as the dark morph based on the absence of the coloring as a result of the gene difference. Hours later and about 80 tabs open on my browser, I can concur with a majority of the content on those tabs – “Only a general overview of its behavior and breeding biology is known” (link here). Note, that Cornell: Birds of the World link also has a reference to a study done in 1960 by Meyerriecks, but that link is dead.
I will simply summarize my takeaways from reading waaay to much. First, about 99.5% of the reference material simply states there are two morphs followed by ever-helpful (sarcasm) pictures of the two morphs. Wikipedia (which I pretty much detest anyway) gets my award for stupidest reference link which simply explains what a “species description” is.. thnx. Stated many times was the fact that the Reddish Egret is the rarest in all the Ardeidae family and by association knowing that the White Morph is roughly 7% (I’ve seen this number referenced up to 20%) of the Reddish population as a whole means the multiple whites at Leonabelle and South Padre Island Birding Center is a real treat (link here).
The most helpful resource I found was at Birdful (link here). I do not know much about this site but I have used some of their references in the past, maybe even their Reddish Egret page – the bad news is it looks like they stopped adding new content back in July of 2025. Their Reddish Egret breeding page had the most info on it (link here). Again, I am taking their word for it. This page states that the morphs are due to “a single locus autosomal gene with two alleles. The dark morph is the partially dominant phenotype”. More intriguing is the white morph was likely first and the advantage of the dark morph for hunting became the natural selection (add in the fashion trade impact). Oh, and white and dark morphs regularly intermingle in nests and mates which was a question I had in previous post. Oh right, I was trying to find you an answer on the breeding color changes of the whites…here is their entry:
“During the breeding season, the bill becomes two-toned with a black tip and blue-gray base. The legs become pinkish-red. The lores (the region between the eye and bill) may show a barely perceptible reddish or pinkish color. The irises of the eyes are yellow. Outside of breeding season, the white morph has uniformly slate gray legs and all yellow eyes.“
In my observation, I have never seen the legs turn a pinkish/red – per the pictures above so that was a bit odd. After all this, my conclusion is you will see the white morphs take on a similar pinkish hue to their bill as the dark morphs, but the blueing on the lores is significantly diminished. I’m officially exhausted ha. It just occurred to me this type of research would be a much better use of time for the fairground security force.
If I did my job right, you are currently visualizing the white morphs with their top buttons down and gold chains showing ala John Travolta hehehe. Take care everyone, hope you enjoyed another look at the breeding transformations of the large wading birds.
Wildlife Intrigued 
Beautiful pictures, but not the ones you risked your life to get, right? Be careful out there when you are stalking around the neighbourhood.
Also, I had to do a double take when I read that you heard a fish crow. Our fish don’t talk out here in the west. But then I saw that you used capital letters and that it was a kind of crow. Normally, bird and animal names are not capitalized but in this case it made a big difference, so good call on the caps.
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Fortunately, I’ve had years and years of training to protect myself..at worst case, they’ll never be able to catch me on foot ha. So, Anneli you stumbled on a little secret here at WildlifeIntrigued. While we were running just our mothership blog, we were seeing..and experiencing a lot of instances where blog content was being lifted off our pages and used for content on other media sources without any compensation, much less even a reference. Purely stolen content to put in publishing houses so to speak. We put in place some methods to detect it along with intentional mistakes etc. we could use to trace back legally. When we started up the Wild side of Intrigued I implemented those same techniques. Now, that problem has pretty much cleaned itself up for the most part, but I’ve continued to do it – since Brad came in after all that, I leave his alone. Two areas you will notice pretty easily – I capitalize the names of all specific species of wildlife (e.x. Snakes, Snails, Coyotes, etc.). Since that isn’t proper grammar I notice if it happens elsewhere. The other nuance is I always capitalize the second name in the scientific names of species. Again, this isn’t proper and easily spotted if seen elsewhere. There are some other improper grammar tricks we use – like spelling mistakes (ha, just kidding), but those are far more subtle. Artifacts from years gone by but part of our culture now! I am glad it actually turned out helpful in your case!
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That’s awful – taking your content without your consent. It’s flattery in a way, but just plain theft in another.
Smart little traps you put out there.
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It is pretty inconsiderate, there never seems to be a shortage of people who want to take the easy way out. I get the same feeling with all this AI that is exploding everywhere now – basically sucking in every piece of knowledge without credit and then spitting it back out to you for free or fee without appropriate references. Watching that arena closely as I have no idea what the end game looks like there.
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I’m with you there. Not a fan of A. I.
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I always thought you were a bit dodgy. I’ve had irate farmers come after me but not the ‘man’, well, not when birding.
Very nice egret, but where does it get the reddish moniker from?
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I know NUUTHING (in my best Hogan’s Heroes accent). Linda swears I am cursed as I am constantly getting more “attention” than I required and don’t get me started on the “starting officials” on the golf course. Father taught us golf at a young age, so my brothers and I would go out from time to time – no surprise, three brothers in competition do not take that game seriously much to the ire of those with their panties in a knot who get some kind of self importance out of trying to impose their authority on their course. As far as the other “mans” out there, no idea what draws them into my space – I swear I’ve been a model citizen post my college days..I swear ha. As far as the reddish moniker on these Egrets, guessing just because the finder couldn’t spell rufous. Their neck and head plums we turn a brighter shade during the breeding season, but you are right, no where close to a red.
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All they need is a brightly colored polyester jacket (the birds, not the police force) and a flashing colored floor and they are all set for a disco throwback. Really more of a Blue-ish Egret in this case, maybe the white is the morph?
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Yes, you are absolutely right – flip those collars up and make their way to Studio 54. The white is the morph, I only featured the dark morph in this post as a change of pace from my usual fodder.
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The Reddish are great looking breeding season…but I really like the story of your near incarceration because I’m positive you looked down right evil to a non bird person. And we look forward to the completion of the fair girls story.
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You weren’t getting off the hook that easy…
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As the Miranda line goes “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”….and the often left out part and far more important, “Your friends will hold anything you say (or have done) as leverage against you for the entirety of your life and many years beyond“.
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😂
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I tell you, there can’t be more of a harmless looking individual than a birder, but yet the attraction that I seem to draw is rather absurd. The most bizarre by far was causing a stir at a biodome animal sanctuary we visited in Nebraska (I think). We were just walking from their desert dome to their rainforest dome when all of a sudden a young lady who was stationed at the entrance starts getting freaked out and animated because she thought I was carrying some form of missile launcher. Everyone near her was getting freaked out and it took a frustrating amount of time to explain it was just The Beast and nothing to worry about. Thought for sure I was going to get tackled at some point or cause a stampede out of the damn sanctuary. As far as the carney girls go, I think I’ll leave that buried for now beyond the aspects they are only there for a limited time and they know things hahahahahaha!
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😵💫😵💫🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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Gorgeous captures of this egret, and I’m still laughing at your swarming! I’ve had Black Vulture swarm me, almost the same thing! 🤣 Kidding aside, as a woman birder that birds a lot alone, I’ve been aggressively approached on public properties and public roads around our remote eastern shore marshy dead end roads. I was just looking for a pocket mace sprayer to start carrying after the last guy that stopped his truck to block my car and got out to approach me on a public road, wanting to know who I was and what was I doing. I took off and got out of there. These old time local farmers and watermen get a little testy around their land, makes you wonder what they’re hiding. 🤔
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Thank you Donna! Pretty sure I’ve seen the glint off the badges on more than a few Black Vultures that I’ve seen circling overhead ha. I always remember the lyric whenever I am in a remote area “I learned a thing or two from Charlie, don’t you know? You better stay away from Copperhead Road” When I am with friends someone will usually bring up the Deliverance scene with the banjo player. Kidding aside, I can completely understand your situation, especially in this day and age – everyone needs to keep an eye out on their surroundings, especially women. I still remember a lady Ron and I met in Dauphin Island during migration several years ago that had befriended a couple of other guys she met in the hotel she was staying at and how glad she was that she could hang with them for the week instead of having to bird alone. I have multiple black degrees in multiple martial arts disciplines, worked out all my life, can easily run out of most situations, father taught me how to shoot and licensed to carry (as well as Linda) if the proverbial shit hits the fan, but with all that my head is ALWAYS on a swivel always assessing, always profiling the situation and always ticking off contingencies (definitely why I quickly noticed that police car following me). Sad that the world has come to that point. Just as a note, I am a disciple of Jonathan Gilliam – his book ‘Sheep No More’ should be required reading in all schools. Stay safe out there Donna, some device like mace is a plus, just be sure and practice with it so you are comfortable and quick with deployment should the need arise.
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Thanks for the info and tips!!
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Better than a fish’s tale. You could have teased those officers a bit and asked if they Habla Espanol? Would have liked to have heard the story about the ICE mobiles rolling up. Went to school in Normal and did some graduate work in Springfield. Know about some of those folk in that part of the state. Was threatened with being shot once for being on a public road. Was deferential back then, today I might not be so generous. Living in Texas and Louisiana gave me some different outlooks.
Fun bird. The color is beautiful. Yu need some kind of Jurassic bird to add to your Halloween display at some point. Blue would be a fetching color, off set with some red “drool”. Just saying…..
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I live in IL, if I resorted to my three years of Spanish and announced I was here illegally the police would probably have rolled out the red carpet for me. You were just down the road (I74) from us at Normal (you were even birding back then as a Redbird ha). My upmost apologies for having to spend time in Springfield though – I hope they gave you some kind of hazard pay. I don’t know much about Louisiana other than to be sure when I travel through there to take the magazines out of my guns and put them in the box until I get out of there. As you know, Texas is our adopted state and beyond an occasional border patrol inquiry while deep in the valley pretty much left alone there. As far as a Jurassic bird display, that is a great idea – I do have the haunted chicken already (per my previous post) a giant Pterodactyl would be a logical companion piece – I like the way you think Jerry. Take care and thanks for dropping in.
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Good thing you didn’t further provoke them with your bad bird finger. The beautiful Reddish Egret in breeding plumage is beautiful and a very exciting find. So far, all I have seen in Dundee, Scotland, are seagulls and crows.
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Hahahaha, I didn’t think even think of that injury – I had it taped up so I wouldn’t bend it without thinking (and trying to determine if I can survive if I have it fused). I could have visually expressed my opinion of the situation and simply claimed it wasn’t my fault, I just couldn’t get the bandaged area into the fist hehehe. Although Dundee seems a bit of a birdie downer, you have to agree the finds you have been bringing us from the other sites you have visited have been absolutely amazing. Be safe in your travels Tim, it seems like the whole world is becoming a more dangerous place these years.
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The bird’s a beauty and so are your photos! Your human encounter not so much 😒
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Thank you Belinda! Those large waders are such beautiful birds and always fun to find them while out in the field, especially when they are all decked out in their fancy clothes and makeup. As I mentioned, the best part of that whole ordeal is the confirmation to myself that leaving that city was a good decision. I do have family relationships with several of the law enforcement orgs in that area, but I remember having to keep track of who was where when I was younger – City Police, State Police HQs, Government Police, Sheriffs Dept, local police municipalities within and around the boundaries of the city making their revenue from speed traps as you drove down a single road etc. I don’t miss those days ha.
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I bet 😏
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Bird watching. A safe and relaxing hobby. 🙂
My own encounter with law enforcement had the county sheriff deputies pull my friend and I over and ask politely (okay, “demand“) what we were up to? “Bird watching.”
Lots of questions about why were on THAT road? “Bird watching.” What were you doing on Maple Drive? “Bird watching.”
(They were beginning to notice a trend.)
Turns out an old feller saw us peeping into his bedroom window with (gasp!) binoculars and alerted John Law to our perversity. (Not our fault a beautiful Summer Tanager perched on the oak tree in his yard.)
We were let loose upon society with stern warnings to be careful where we point them things. (Binoculars, dangerous potential weapons, apparently.)
Reddish Egret! Love ’em. Even when they’re White-ish.
(Hooray for Spring, y’all!)
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Hi Wally! I can absolutely relate to your incident and in this day and age can easily see it happening with large swaths of individuals in constant state of agitation. With every one of your responses I imagined myself playing the Eels in the back of my head while I responded with the chorus “I like birds”. If I see a beautiful Summer Tanager, hell ya, I’m going to look in that tree. I do try to be more cautious when I’m out with The Beast doing everything I can not to point it in the direction of schools and government buildings, but sometimes the bird takes hold and I don’t even see what’s in the bokeh in the background – luckily Linda is usually around and will give me a gentle warning if she notices. Did you politely ask them if there were any real criminals they could be going after instead of harassing fine upstanding citizens out for a stroll? I say large waders are fun in any color – mainly because they like to hold still longer than those hyper active Warblers that are on their way up here right now. Time to hit the chiropractor’s office before the Warbler Neck season kicks into high gear. Take it easy, appreciate you coming by and give Gini our continued well wishes.
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The Eels! Birders’ anthem!
(Great, now I have an ear worm for the day.)
I resisted the urge to yank the deputies around. My friend, on the other hand, was like “I don’t have to show you my i.d.”!! Thought for sure I’d end up being hauled off in cuffs with him. Cooler heads prevailed.
Gini (and I) appreciate your well-wishes!
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Hahaha, sorry about that..you know the only way to get rid of it is to sing it out loud and proud! I can relate, I always have to try and read the friends I am with in these situations – fortunately I was alone on this encounter.
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Great photo, I have only seen one of those this year.
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Thanks Sandra. The Reds are definitely more rare of the Heron family, but they are out there I’m sure you will come across more in your travels. Appreciate you stopping in – just as FYI, I still can’t comment on your posts from my desktop. Still getting those authentication errors and now interesting enough only on your site. The good news is I can use the WP app on my phone to make some comments.
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I’m getting the “verification failed” message on Sandra’s site, too, as well as some others. This site (Wildlife) prompts for my WordPress login info, which makes it possible to comment here. This latest round of nonsense started about 5 weeks ago. Haven’t taken the time to track down all the data points that might lead to a solution.
Always love the Reddish, don’t think I’ve ever seen one in breeding colors – great find!
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Glad to hear it isn’t just me fighting Sandra’s blog. I ended up throwing in the towel trying to figure that out, WP administrators were no help and it was taking way to much of my time without success – I can comment from time to time through the WP phone app. I have the same problem with re-authenticating when I try to comment on sites using Firefox (my preferred browser). I would authenticate myself to make a comment and then WP would kill my authentication to my own site causing me to log in AGAIN throwing me into an endless loop. Found out Chrome wouldn’t do that so when I want to comment on other sites, I go and bring that browser up for that function – stupid, stupid, stupid, but life’s too short to spend down that rabbit hole when I have a workaround. Maybe you can head over to Galveston or Anahuac during the breeding months and get a look at those Reddish breeding colors. I keep telling Linda we have to go back to Texas in the March/April timeframe and then she points out that would mean not going to Arizona – it is hard to give that up ha. Thanks for dropping in Sam, take care!
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