In Porto Cesareo, it is not uncommon to come across beautiful birds and be lucky enough to photograph them, as happened to us.
We had the opportunity, together with a dear friend of ours who is a lover and connoisseur of nature, to photograph a beautiful specimen of Egretta garzetta, commonly known as Garzetta Bianca.
We were enraptured in front of this exceptionally large natural spectacle.
The little egret pictured here was together with a large group of herons, including a beautiful specimen of African Black Egret (Egretta Ardesiaca), which we were unable to photograph because it flew away soon after.
If you would like to find out more interesting facts about Porto Cesareo, click on the following link“Porto Cesareo: a popular destination in Salento
The White Egret or Egretta Garzetta: useful information about this bird with regal bearing
The white egret that we observed in that of Porto Cesareo, is a pelecaniform belonging to the family of Ardeidae.
Regal in bearing, elegant in its movements, it is generally a fairly silent bird and, if you want to hear it “sing,” you have to wait until the period of love and mating.
Size and morphological characteristics of the White Egret
With a wingspan between 85-95 cm, the cute Little Egret, can reach a maximum weight of 650 g and a length of about 70 cm.
The plumage is candid, white, thick and varies in nuptial livery (the color of the hair or plumage is a distinguishing element for species classification) because it assumes regal feathers at the base of the neck, nape and on the coat.
The fact of the matter is that it is and remains difficult to determine the sex of the Little Egret by visual examination alone.
The color of the bill is black as are the legs, which take on a yellowish color from behind at in flight.
Thanks to their long black legs, they move elegantly through the water and, with agile, dance-like steps, catch prey with their long beaks.
Everything you want to know about the Egret egret but don’t have the courage to ask: origin, habitat, sociality, feeding and reproduction.
The egret loves sociality and water, as we mentioned earlier. It moves in dense flocks, along with other herons and prefers marshy environments : ponds, lakes, riverbanks.
It is not uncommon to confuse it with other herons with snow-white plumage such as the Great White Egret, Great Egret (known as Ibis), the trick is to look carefully at the color of its bill and legs.
The egret is a migratory, breeding and wintering bird, widespread throughout the Mediterranean basin, Africa, Asia, Australia.
Egret populations in Italy nest on the banks of the Po River and winter in Africa, or nest in Central Europe and winter in Italy.
Along the southern coasts of Sicily, it is not uncommon to encounter flocks of sedentary egrets.
During the mating season, egrets prove particularly adept at nest construction: wood from poplars, willows and bushes are the natural components of nest architecture.
The female Egret lays 3 to 5 greenish-colored eggs, and after a brood of about 3 weeks carried out alternating with the male, little champions of aerial acrobatics are born. The fruit of the mating, sees the light after about 20 to 30 days with the hatching of the eggs, a magnificent moment.
After a few weeks, the little egret chicks can try to fly…and believe us, they succeed great!