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Great Egret
When I was a young child, this species was called the American Egret, and I only knew of it as in image in books and movies. It seemed so exotic, and I thought of it always occurring in dark, mysterious southern swamps. But since then I have seen it countless times in every imaginable habitat and in various parts of the world. In fact, it has increasingly become more and more common here in Ontario and now occurs quite regularly each summer within a relatively short walk from my home.



About ten years ago I photographed one in California that, when standing upright, had filmy plumes on its back that were long enough to touch the ground. The photograph is terrible, but it formed the basis for this painting, except that I put it in a dark swamp, as a tribute to my childhood imagination. But I didn’t put it in a southern swamp, with cypress knees sticking out of the water and Spanish moss hanging gracefully in the background…I made up a generic swamp that could be almost anywhere.



Those long plumes are only worn in the breeding season, when they are utilized in spectacular displays, and then are molted. I also referenced a museum specimen from the state of Georgia, shot late in the 19th century, when that fate befell a great many of these egrets, and their smaller relatives, the Snowy Egret, almost wiping them out, at least in North America. Those breeding plumes were used for decorations on ladies’ hats and other clothing, and there was an enormous trade in them and in many other kinds of feathers. Conservation can work, and when the species was protected it slowly increased its numbers and is once more common.



Great Egrets, also called “Great White Egret”, are found on every continent except Antarctica. I have shown the race found in the western hemisphere, from southern Canada south through nearly all the continental U.S., Mexico, Central American and the West Indies, to southern South America. The painting is in acrylics on compressed hardboard.



Barry


Reproduction prohibited without prior permission. © Barry Kent Mackay

The species

Classification

Order : Pélécaniformes
Family : Ardeidae
Species : Great Egret


Species photos

all photos

The photo

O.Net reference : bkma98027
Author :

Photo details

Date : 2011 Feb.
Country : Canada (ca)
Region : Ontario
Location : Voltaire Lake Voltaire Lake
Lat. : 49° 42' 0'' North
Lng. : 89° 13' 59'' West

Exif data [+][-]

Model : Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT
Speed : 1/1600 s
Aperture : 4.5
Focal length : 34 mm
Iso : 100
Flash : no