Reddish Egret

Egretta rufescens

Drunken dancer of the saltflats — runs, spins, opens its wings to shade fish. The most theatrical wader you'll ever see.

Population: 5,000–9,999 mature individuals globally (decreasing, suspected 10-19% decline over three generations, per BirdLife 2020 assessment); ~1,500–2,000 nesting pairs in the U.S., mostly Texas
Habitat: Shallow coastal saltwater habitats — tidal flats, lagoons, mangrove islands, salt-pans, and open marine flats/shorelines exposed at low tide; rarely recorded away from the coast; breeds colonially on coastal/mangrove islands alongside pelicans and other wading birds
Fun fact: The Reddish Egret hunts with an unmistakably theatrical style — staggering, spinning, and flaring its wings to cast shade over the water to spook fish into the open — behavior that earned it naturalist Pete Dunne's nickname "the Tyrannosaurus rex of the Flats." It remains North America's rarest and least-studied heron, with only 1,500–2,000 nesting pairs in the U.S.
Range: Coastal areas from Baja California and Mexico's Pacific coast through the Gulf Coast of the southern USA (chiefly Texas and Florida), the Bahamas and Caribbean (notably Cuba and Dominican Republic), Central America, and south to northern Colombia and Venezuela
Diet: Primarily small fish, also frogs, crustaceans, and insects, caught with highly active foraging (running, staggering, spinning, and wing-flicking/canopy-feeding to cast shade and spook prey into the open)
Size: 0.75 m
Wingspan: 1.2 m

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