Unlike the Great Blue Herons that stay in Northern Virginia all winter, Great Egrets (Ardea alba) depart for warmer locations during the winter. I was happy to note this past weekend that the egrets are now back at my local marsh, where I took these shots of one coming in for a landing.
The wing span of this bird is impressive and I love the way that it points its toes as it comes in for the landing. As is often the case, I had challenges getting a proper exposure—I try to expose for the brilliant white body, but often blow out the highlights. I am pleased that I was able to capture some of the details of the wings in these images, though the shadows caused much of the plumage to look gray, rather than white.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Thats quite a wingspan!
Great – so graceful
I really like the positioning of the bird in the first photo – the full wingspan is wonderful. Those brilliant white birds are a challenge – it seems like the blown highlights can sneak up on me quite quickly.
Your first image is really spectacular, Mike. On my screen, it looks like you could brighten the highlights a bit more and still have detail. This is a wonderful shot!
Thanks, Gary. On my laptop screen, it was hard to tell at what point the highlights disappeared. It was kind of cool to get a shot with the wings extended like that and the body showing.
Very nice shots, Mike! Impressive wingspan indeed. 🙂
Such a beautiful bird! I wish they’d spend the summer here. I’ve never seen one in person but I’d be real happy with those photos.
Thanks. In many ways the egrets are similar to Great Blue Herons, but it seems that the territory is not quite the same and herons hang around in the winter. I am not sure how to explain that.
[…] Egret landing […]
Beautiful shots. Well composed.