|A little egret stalking through the water of a coastal scrape/lagoon|
It feeds on fish and other small animals (insects, amphibians, reptiles, crustaceans) which it hunts mainly by stalking in shallow water, sometimes also running with raised wings or shuffling its feet to disturb small fish; at other times they may simply stand still and ambush their prey. While bird-watching yesterday, I was pleased to see a little egret using the foot-shuffling method (which the other British egrets do not use) and, although I'm no wildlife film-maker, I did manage to capture this footage (on a compact, hence the graininess, but the behaviour is still visible):
You can see the shuffling, sometimes circular foot movements which, at the end, result in the rapid (blink and you'll miss it) capture of a prey item. I hope you enjoyed reading this tale of conservation success - also a departure from the usual invertebrate theme - more coming soon.
|Prey detected, the beak strikes!|
RSPB (2011). Little egret. [accessed 16/12/2011]