Dancing with Egrets

Meet the reddish egret—a long-legged bird that dances in the surf for its dinner.

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• When it is time to eat, this bird does a funny dance in shallow water. It races back and forth, jumps up and down, and flaps its wings. All that movement stirs up the small fish it eats.
• Then the egret stops dancing, spreads its wings and waits for fish to swim close by.
• When it spots a fish, the egret plunges its head into the water to snap it up.
• Reddish egrets don’t just dance for their dinner. When it’s time to start a family, an egret will find a partner, and the two dance together.
• The two keep right on dancing as they work together to build a nest and raise their young.
• Not long after hatching, baby egrets try out some dance moves of their own. Before long, they will be dancing for their dinner.