The Story
I photographed this Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) near La Macarena, Meta, Colombia, in February 2021. Adults are all white except for yellow lores, a long black bill, black legs and bright yellow feet. During breeding, long shaggy plumes called aigrettes grow on the nape and neck. Those plumes were once in such demand for hats that hunting pushed the species to dangerously low numbers, and it is now protected by law in the United States. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/1000 sec, f/16, ISO 800. La Macarena National Park traces its origins to the La Macarena Biological Reserve of 1948 and today covers 629,280 hectares of humid forest, flooded forest, scrub and Amazonian savanna.
©2021 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
