Portmann captures the ardeids

Last month's supertide provided a great opportunity to observe a fascinating group of birds called ardeidae. This family includes the herons, egrets and bitterns, which range in size from the five-foot tall goliath heron to the pigeon-sized little bittern. At least ten species occur in our neck of the woods. Francois Portmann got some amazing shots of a black-crowned night heron, little egret and great egret. Check them out here. He captured this great egret right after it sniped a particularly large killifish from the marsh.

The great egret was active throughout the evening, as evidenced by Francois' amazing timelapse.

Photo and video courtesy Francois Portmann