On my recent vacation in the Florida Keys, I photographed a lot of birds but there is one that was my favorite: the Great White Heron.
About six months ago I stumbled across information on this white version of the Great Blue Heron. There are only about 800 or so breeding pairs of Great White Herons and they are found almost exclusively in the Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge, an off-shore protected area of islands and mangroves that runs from north of Sugarloaf Key to north of Key West, with a little area north of Marathon also included.
For the first 140 years after John Audubon first cataloged this bird, the Great White Heron was considered a species separate from the Great Blue Heron. In 1973, researchers successfully argued that it was just a white version of a Great Blue Heron. But there’s been renewed interest in this debate with some now backing the separate species theory. The argument gets muddled because Great Blue Herons and Great White Herons have been observed as breeding pairs from time to time.
Regardless of the bird’s backstory and debate, I had completely forgotten about trying to look for a Great White Heron – even after we decided to rent a a pontoon boat with some friends to spend the day on a sandbar off Sugarloaf Key. While heading to the sandbar … practically in the middle of the Great White Heron refuge … I happened to see a Great White Heron and then all my reading about on this bird came flooding back to me. I saw several during the trip, and a couple flew over to a nearby island where we were anchored – but were still pretty far away.
I wish I had been able to get more photos, but I am thankful for the ones I was able to take of this truly rare bird.
And speaking of white birds, on our boating adventure I was also able to photograph my first white morph of a Reddish Egret, as well as some other familiar birds, too.
It certainly was a “great” day for birding.
