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Novel Snowy Egret foraging behavior.
Snowy Egrets (Egretta thula) have been reported to use an assortment of foraging behaviors previously defined by Kushlan (1976), Willard (1977), Kasner and Dixon (2003), and Kelly et al. (2003). Kelly et al. (2003) described 34 foraging behaviors, of which Snowy Egrets used 29, detailing their plasticity when feeding. Swimming feeding remains one of the five published wading bird foraging behaviors that Snowy Egrets have not been documented using, although Great Egrets (Ardea alba), Great Blue Herons (A. herodias), Tricolored Herons (E. tricolor), and Green Herons (Butorides virescens) have used this behavior (Kushlan 1976, Willard 1977, Kasner and Dixon 2003, Kelly et al. 2003).
We observed five Snowy Egrets swimming feeding on 23 October 2005 from 1700 to 1900 hrs EST in a small (~5,000 [m.sup.2]) constructed wetland in a housing subdivision in Boca Raton, Florida (26[degrees] 21' N, 80[degrees]04' W). Snowy Egrets and Tricolored Herons used swimming feeding, where they flew 5-10 m from shore, landed in the water and proceeded to capture fish on or within 5 cm of the surface while swimming. Both species extended their head under the water at least 15 cm on several occasions. Snowy Egrets and Tricolored Herons appeared to be successful in capturing fish with each attempt, but we did not quantify capture rates. Fish captured by both Snowy Egrets and Tricolored Herons using this technique were approximately 3 cm long on average based on heron bill lengths (Frederick 1997, Parsons and Master 2000). Both species would take off and fly to the shoreline after capturing prey, where they either rested or began feeding along the water's edge. The Snowy Egrets were foraging in a mixed flock (~20 birds) of Great Egrets, Tricolored Herons, and Wood Storks (Mycteria americana). All species were observed feeding along the shoreline but Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, and Tricolored Herons also foraged in the open water, using either plunging (all three species) or swimming feeding (Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron) behaviors.
Numerous small (
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Garth Herring and H. K. Herring were supported by research assistantships through Florida Atlantic University during the preparation of this manuscript. We thank D. E. Gawlik, J. F. Kelly, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on a previous version of this manuscript.
Received 21 November 2005. Accepted 28 July 2006.
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Source: HighBeam Research, Novel Snowy Egret foraging behavior.