The Story
I photographed this Great Egret (Ardea alba) at the Charca de Guarinocito, near La Dorada, Caldas, Colombia, in October 2020. It is found across most of the tropical and warmer temperate regions of the world. It measures 80 to 104 centimeters long and weighs 700 to 1,500 grams. Its breeding plumes made it a target of plume hunters, and in North America large numbers were killed in the late nineteenth century before conservation measures helped it recover. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/160 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400. The Charca de Guarinocito is an old oxbow of the Magdalena River that stays connected to the river all year.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Great Egret (Ardea alba) 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 stable. Source: IUCN Red List