The Story
This Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) stood in shallow water among the vegetation near Puerto Nariño, in Amazonas, Colombia, its white plumage and yellow feet bright against the greens behind it. It lives in many kinds of wetlands, from marshes, riverbanks and lakesides to pools and estuaries, but not at high altitudes. It breeds in mixed colonies with other herons and ibises, where the male sets up a territory and starts building the nest in a tree, vines or thick undergrowth. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I photographed it with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/125 sec, f/16, ISO 3200, −1.5 EV. The nearby Lagos de Tarapoto became a Ramsar wetland of international importance in 2018, and the Ticuna, Cocama and Yagua communities around them keep agreements on responsible fishing.
©2023 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) belongs to the family Ardeidae (Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025), with the population trend listed as increasing. Source: IUCN Red List