Snowy Egret Gallery

A close-up view of a snowy egret with a shrimp in its beak at Huntington Beach State Park

Shrimp Breakfast

This snowy egret has just snagged a large shrimp from a freshwater marsh at Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina. I was visiting family for a week and got up each morning to be at the park when it opened at 6am, spent a few hours hiking and wildlife watching, and then headed back home for time with the family.

The first morning I was there, the water had a lot of stuff floating in it, and a small army of snowy and great egrets was gorging on shrimp — they feasted constantly the entire morning. The water was clearer the rest of the week and the egrets caught much less shrimp, so I was fortunate enough to have caught the feast that first morning.

A snowy egret standing in algae mats at Huntington Beach State Park

A snowy egret stands among the algae mats in the freshwater marsh at Huntington Beach. This part of the marsh was visited by a variety of predators who fed on the creatures hiding in the algae.

A wood stork, a snowy egret, and a young alligator in a freshwater marsh at Huntington Beach State Park

Three's a Crowd

A snowy egret, a wood stork, and a young alligator all hunt in the same space in the freshwater marsh. There was also a great egret, another wood stork, and several young alligators just off camera. It's no wonder the crabs were so nervous. It's also fun to see how three creatures who evolved in different ways can each be a successful predator in this environment. You can also get a feel for how small the snowy egret is relative to the larger birds like the wood stork, great blue heron, or great egret.

One of my favorite pictures from this visit to Huntington Beach.

A snowy egret hunts for shrimp at Huntington Beach State Park

Cold Shoulder

A snowy egret hunts for shrimp at sunrise in the freshwater marsh at Huntington Beach. I don’t often take pictures where you can’t see the bird’s face, but I like the way it works in the second picture. The egrets ignored both me and the alligators while they gorged themselves on shrimp that morning.