Great Egret Eating Gopher and Visited by Bobcat

This Great egret, Ardea albus, is a resident of our valley. It forages in open areas, along lakes and rivers, marshes, and the shallow lagoons and estuaries on our coastline. On the mitigation lands, it is found along the creek areas and out in the pastures. Great Egrets eat mostly fish but will eat crustaceans, frogs, salamanders, snakes, and lizards. In our open fields, they will even eat grasshoppers and rodents. If you look closely you will see that this is not a fish the egret has caught, this is a rodent, probably a Botta’s Pocket Gopher, Thomomys bottae. It was caught at the edge of Outlet Creek where this egret was hunting for food.