Welcome to Week #38 of the Bird Weekly Photo Challenge. Week #38 challenge is birds that begin with the letter “E” in their name such as the European Starling or Great Egret.
Change in the weekly menu
NOTE: I’ve done a little rearranging of the themes for the next couple of weeks. I changed the monochrome (black & white | sepia) challenge to Week #40 to go in line with Cee’s Anything in Flight Black and White Challenge. See my Bird Weekly page for the changes. I am also taking the week of March 28th off, so no Bird Weekly on April 2nd. Frank and I will be celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary that week and will likely be out birding since we are not getting on an airplane anytime soon.
The feature image is a Snowy Egret in breeding colors. You can tell by the pink color near the eye called the lore. The lore is the region between the eye and the bill on the side of a bird’s head. This one was nesting at the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, Florida.
Living on the east coast of the United States, gives me opportunity to share some “Eastern” varieties of birds. Lots of Egrets and other “E” birds for this week. I thought in honor of the “E” birds this week, I would mention to all my friends, bloggers and those who may be new to Bird Weekly about Ebird.org. You put the E to the Bird and what do you get? Sounds like a jingle for a commercial. Okay, going off the deep end!
Before we plan our birding trips, we scour the many lists on Ebird.org to see what has been seen and logged in recent days. If you don’t use Ebird and want to get out there and find them, I suggest using this site or download the app to your phone. The data you submit goes directly to CornellLab of Ornithology. Birds are logged by birders and scientist all over the world. It’s free and easy to set up an account.
I met an up and coming birder on our birding trip to the Viera Wetlands last Thursday. We were on the driving trail and pulled up next to her and she was looking for a Painted Bunting in some bushes. I wasn’t too optimistic and after some conversation, we moved on. A bit down the road, I got out of the car and started taking some photos. The woman pulled up and started talking again, asking all kinds of questions. She had captured a bird on her camera and needed help identifying. I was able to do to that quickly. She had just seen and photographed her first Eastern Phoebe. I thought to myself, “E” birds are coming up, but I have one in my yard so no need to backtrack. I did, however, tell her about Ebird.org and the blog. I hope she finds as much joy in her new found passion as we all have.
Great Egret
The Great Egret is a large white heron that breeds in colonies near lakes, rivers, swamps and oceans. They eat mostly fish, frogs and small mammals. In 1953, the Great Egret became the symbol of the national Audubon Society. Audubon was founded to protect the Great Egrets that was being driven to extinction from hunters killing them for their feathers to adorn the wealthy ladies’ hats.
Not all the eggs that hatch in a nest survive. Siblicide as it is known, is when the larger chick or chicks kill their smaller siblings. This type of aggressive behavior is common. Only the strong survive! There was only one chick in this nest getting fed. This pair was seen at the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, Florida.
Snowy Egret
The Snowy Egret was another victim of the fashion industry when conservationist began their efforts to protect this species as well. The Snowy Egret is quite elegant and smaller than the Great Egret. It is very similar to the Little Egret from Europe. They are so similar that it takes an expert ornithologist to know the difference unless you are in the territory of where one would normally live. They are distinguishable only by the Little Egret’s dark gray eye lores, more black on the legs year-round and the head has two long head plums to only one with the Snowy Egret.
Cattle Egret
The diet of a Cattle Egret is a little different than other egrets. It eats mostly large insects like grasshoppers, crickets and flies. Frogs, spiders and moths are also on the menu. Occasionally, they will eat crayfish, earthworm, snakes, nestling birds, eggs and fish. They follow large, grazing animals to pick the ticks off their backs. Guess they could be referred to as a Cattle Vacuum.
Reddish Egret
The Reddish Egret is the entertainer of all the egrets. They dance around acting like they are not going to eat you and bam! They are quite spastic with their movements while they open their wings, shadowing the water while in pursuit of small fish. There are two morphs to the Reddish Egret. A rare all white morph and the more common darker bluish and reddish morph as seen above. At adulthood, they have a pink bill with a black tip. Their behavior will stick out among other egrets and herons.
Eastern Towhee
This Eastern Towhee was singing loud and proud. We heard him and followed his song.
I wanted to share the sound I was hearing when we went in search of this Towhee. I found this clip on YouTube and decided to share it today.
Eastern Meadowlarks
There were over 40 Eastern Meadowlarks that flew in right where we were in this conservation area. They provided quite a show for a good 15 minutes before they got spooked by something, not us and flew off.
Eastern Phoebe
This Eastern Phoebe showed up last summer and was a sweet surprise to our quarantine situation. It was the first Eastern Phoebe to visit our yard and so far, as of today, it is still in the neighborhood. I saw him on the feeder branches yesterday. They don’t eat seed, rather they eat insects, especially flying insects. They are in the flycatcher family and can be easily mistaken by beginning birders for other birds with Flycatcher in their name. It had been raining and this phoebe came out right after a summer shower.
Eastern Bluebird
The Eastern Bluebirds don’t usually come to feeders, however our bluebirds spent a great deal of time perched on the feeder branches last year. You will increase your chances in luring them to the feeder with mealworms as they are meat eaters. We didn’t put mealworms out, but we have plenty of worms and grubs in our yard that kept them happy. It was a real treat to have them for several months. They have moved on, but hopefully they will be back in a couple of months.
Bald Eagle
Bald Eagles are opportunists. They will hunt for fish and small mammals, but they are more likely to steal already captured fish from an Osprey or smaller Hawk than to go fishing the hard way. They are the National bird of the United States and can be considered the most beautiful pirates in the sky, stealing from those more vulnerable than themselves. Politics!!!!
Upcoming challenges can be found on my Bird Weekly Challenge Page.
Next time…Week #39 – Birds that eat fish as their primary diet.
Our Eyes Open 
Comments
92 responses to “Bird Weekly – Photo Challenge – Birds Beginning with the Letter “E””
Great photos
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Thanks Willow! I was going to post some of them last week for white feathered birds and then I realized I had “E” birds this week. Had to save them. LOL! 🙂
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Lol we saw an egret up close and personal in Antigua about four years ago 💜
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I’m glad you got to see one. They are so common here that we almost disregard them most of the time. It does allow me to be choosy with my photography though. 🙂
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They are so beautiful 💜
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They really are. I’m lucky to live where there is such a variety of birds and because of the migration line, we see more than most people and never know from year to year what might be passing through. 🙂
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It must be exciting 💜💜
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It certainly is. We are going tomorrow so I’m excited about that. 🙂
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I hope you have a good day 💜
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Thanks Willow. I’m heading to the hospital this morning to have the pain in my legs checked. My doctor is concerned so birding will wait. 🙂
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Beautiful “E” birds! I love all the different Egrets. I’ve never seen a Reddish Egret that I know of.
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Thanks! Oh Beth, you would get a kick out of watching them or one. Merritt Island, Black Point Drive. Almost every trip between Nov. & Mar., it is a guarantee. They are probably there year round but it is too hot for us to go down there any other time. 🙂
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Great idea, I think I will try to do this post. I don’t have the ability to add western birds.
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I look forward to it. 😊
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Lovely ‘e’ birds, Lisa 🙂
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Thanks Cathy. I need to get out and get some new birds. 😊
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Yes, me too!
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We are going birding on Tuesday. I’m looking forward to it. 🙂
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Have a great day! We’re inbetween moves, leaving and renting until the new house goes through…hopefully not too long.
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I hope not too long for you too. I know the being in the middle is a difficult place to be. Years ago, when I was married to my first husband, we lived in an apartment for 4 months after selling our house and waiting for our new home to be built. It was so worth it until we divorced, but I wouldn’t have changed that experience for anything. 🙂
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Fingers crossed it should only be 2-3 weeks. We were very lucky a friend was kind enough to let us use his holiday place 🙂
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I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you! That was nice of your friend to do that. Saves money there! 🙂
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Absolutely 🙂 Thanks, Lisa.
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🙂
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Love those head plumes on the egrets! The meadowlarks are nice too. We have the western species here.
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The plumes are quite gorgeous. Especially when the wind blows. The meadowlarks are hard to distinguish between the western and eastern when they overlap territory in the central US. I wrote a blog back in Nov 2019 about them. https://oureyesopen.blog/2019/11/10/nov-10-botd-meadowlark/
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It’s amazing to see so many kinds of egrets, Lisa! Just read your post that you’ve made changes. I’ll do my best to post something. All bloggers deserve a little break!
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Thanks Terri. We have quite a selection of them for sure. I have decided I need to take at least 3-4 weeks off throughout the year. Spring Break seemed like good time because we will be out birding. Christmas was the first one so I will probably do another one in August or September. 🙂
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Your pictures are fabulous!
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Thank you Jacquie! 🙂
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I think it should be Showy Egret rather than Snowy, Lisa 🙂 🙂 But they are such beautiful birds. We see them here sometimes too but I’ve never seen the reddish one. Great photos, hon!
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Thank you Jo. Well, the Reddish Egret should be called the Showy Egret. Here is an awesome video to show what I mean. https://youtu.be/Mvz0ejNAq34
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Fantastic! Thanks for sharing, Lisa 🙂 🙂
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You are welcome! They are a real treat when we see them. Not as common as the other egrets. 🙂
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Spectacular birds. I especially love the Snowy Egrets.
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Terrific series!
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Thank you so much Belinda. I had to save some of them from the week before of white feathered birds. LOL! 🙂
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who knew E would be such a good letter for birds. I knew egrets would feature prominently, but I was happy to see the eagle as well…
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Thanks Jim. We saw and Eagle on our last trip to Merritt Island and I got some pics, but none of them were good enough to post this week. He was way up high in the tree. Higher than my lens extended. It was good to see though. 🙂
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[…] that start with the letter ‘E’ for Bird Weekly Challenge. Featured is an Eastern Kingbird – a summer resident here. The Bald Eagles are regulars, and […]
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Wonderful images of the Egrets and other birds this week, Lisa!
I loved the chick!
Our anniversary is the 27th or 28th! I always have to look it up. I hope you have a lovely celebration of your 4th! xx
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The chick is special. It might get another pass for an upcoming challenge in a few weeks.
We are talking about where to go even for several “day” trips. Happy Anniversary to you two as well. How many years?
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We haven’t begun to talk about celebrating it yet. We’re coming up on the 40!
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Whoa! 40 years! That is reason to celebrate! Woop Woop! If I was still married to my first husband, we would be at 36 years…thank god that isn’t the case! LOL! 🙂 It’s funny because we married in 1985 and Frank married his first wife in 1985. Her name was Lisa too. He married the wrong Lisa!
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He did. Thankfully he found the right one though. 🥰
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Love it! 🙂
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[…] The theme for this week’s Bird Weekly challenge, hosted by Lisa of Our Eyes Open, is Birds Beginning With the Letter E […]
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[…] is my entry for Lisa’s from Our Eyes Open blog, Bird Weekly – Photo Challenge with the topic of Birds beginning with the Letter […]
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More stunning bird photos. I really like your egret photos.
Here is my photos for the week. Enjoy!
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Thank you Cee. I had to hold a bunch of them back from last week’s White feathered birds. LOL! 🙂 Practicing self-control. hahaha
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Isn’t it nice to be the host and know how to chose the appropriate photos for your own challenge 😀
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Yes it is. You were my encouragement. I don’t know what happened to Granny Shot It, but when BOTD stopped, I milled around with the idea for several months and planned on how to do this from watching you. It’s a commitment for sure but I’m loving it. I’ve learned so much from birders around the world and now I can recognized birds in other countries if I ever get to travel to those places. If I don’t, then I’ve enjoyed everything other birders and photographers have seen. 🙂
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[…] ….thanks to Lisa Coleman from Our Eyes Open for hosting the Bird Weekly Challenge https://oureyesopen.blog/2021/03/05/bird-weekly-photo-challenge-birds-beginning-with-the-letter-e/ […]
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[…] Bird Weekly Photo Challenge: Birds beginning with the letter “E” […]
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Great gallery of E birds Lisa. I’ll have a go later 🙂 🙂
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Thanks Brian! I had to save some of them that I almost posted for white feathered birds and remember this week was “E” birds. LOL! 🙂
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I reckon overlaps are OK but then again I have so many bird photos I could add new ones no matter the topic 😀 😀
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Yeah, but I had these done and it certainly saved me some time last week when putting the post together. Plus I had plenty of white feathered birds. We are going birding tomorrow and I’m quite excited about it. 🙂
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Hope you find lots of new birds Lisa 🙂 🙂
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We didn’t go. I ended up at the hospital emergency room getting a CT scan. They were checking for blood clots and I’m happy to report, there were none. We will have to try to go again next week – pending the weather. 🙂
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Wow!!! I am glad all is OK. Take it easy though. I had guests over the past few days and the weather was not good for nature walks or birds or insects. 🙂
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I’m got back on light duty exercises today now that I know I don’t have any clots. Will call tomorrow to get an appointment to orthopedic. Bummer no nature walks. I get it. I was disappointed to not going birding but I slept better last night. Peace of mind wins out. 😊
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[…] Birds Weekly: https://oureyesopen.blog/2021/03/05/bird-weekly-photo-challenge-birds-beginning-with-the-letter-e/ […]
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[…] For Bird Weekly: Birds beginning with the letter “E.” […]
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[…] Thank you Lisa for this week’s Bird Weekly Challenge Birds that begin with the Letter E […]
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We used to have a lot of cattle Egrets here, but in the past few years, I haven’t seen any. Instead, I’ve seen a lot more Herons, swans, and Canada geese. The Great Blue Herons roost near the rivers in trees. The sight of these huge birds nesting in trees is amazing. They are so big, they make the trees look small.
Are the “Fs” next? I sure do have a lot of finches!
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I know what you mean about the big birds roosting in the trees. It seems they would bend the branches more than they do. LOL! “F” birds are coming up in a few weeks. I’m going in alphabetical order. 🙂
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Beautiful photos – my egret photos don’t compare!!
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They don’t have to compare. We just like to see what you are seeing. No judging in this challenge. 🙂
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[…] For Lisa´s Birds Weekly. […]
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[…] Lisa Coleman’s Bird Weekly this week has the topic of birds starting with the letter E. […]
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Great gallery. Lovely captures.
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Thank you Maria. I’m so glad to see you back! 🙂
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[…] BIRD WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – BIRDS BEGINNING WITH “E” […]
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[…] she has stunning phots but you also learn tidbits about different birds. In her most recent post, Birds Starting with the Letter E right off the bat you learn, “The feature image is a Snowy Egret in breeding colors. You can […]
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It’s up, All three pictures! F will be a better letter, at least around here!
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🙂
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I just wanted to let you know that WE have your bluebirds. It might be the mealworms, but it could also be fresh grubs. The birds come and clean them up for us every year. Especially the Robins, but they haven’t arrived yet.
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The Robins are here. Started passing through about a month ago. They should be your way shortly. We still have bluebirds, but the ones in our neighborhood have moved on. I guess they cleaned out the yards. Summertime should kick-start them again. 🙂
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Wow, fantastic bird photos Lisa! I love the Eastern Meadowlarks in particular – we don’t get them in the UK and I’ve never seen one elsewhere to my knowledge. I HAVE seen a lot of egrets but I’m often not sure which species I’m looking at so I’m glad you said that even some experts struggle with a couple of them. I believe I was once told that you can distinguish Cattle Egrets by their yellow legs and bill – is that correct?
I hope to join the challenge in future weeks, depending on the theme 🙂
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Hi Sarah
Thank you for visiting Bird Weekly and you are welcome anytime to visit and/or participate. Cattle Egrets are different than other egrets. They look different. Breeding adults have gold feathers on their head, breast and back plus the bill and legs are yellow. The nonbreeding has a yellow bill and black legs. It is distinguishable from other egrets, but can be misidentified by the Little Blue Heron juvenile that is all white with a bluish black bill and greenish legs. The head is almost shaped the same for those two birds. The Snowy and Little Egrets are the hardest to identify when in overlapping territory. The Great Egret is pretty distinguishable because of its size (larger) and is all over the UK. A great pair of binoculars are essential in this line of hobby! LOL! 🙂
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Thanks for all that info Lisa – I’ll remember it I hope next time I see egrets 🙂 Yes, we have Great Egrets on the Thames in West London sometimes which is great to see!
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You are welcome. I’m glad you get to see them. I’m sure it is a treat. 😊
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[…] Bird Weekly […]
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I remembered a bit earlier this week. Your bluebird is fabulous.
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Awesome! Thanks Joanne. We had 8 in our yard at one time a few months ago. They are gone for now, but I’m sure they will be back. 🙂
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Wow 8 I hope you get more back they just look fabulous. 🙂
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Yeah and they are still in Jax. We saw a couple of them at the park a couple weeks ago. 🙂
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[…] Bird Weekly […]
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Fabulous pictures, Lisa ❤
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Thank you so much! 🙂
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[…] for Bird Weekly on March 5, 2021. Please check out more Egret photos and information here. Plus a few other “E” birds! The Snowy Egret was one of the most hunted birds in the […]
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