It sounds like the setup for a joke missing a punchline: What’s big and white and seen all over?
One of the first things many Southwest Florida newcomers may notice is the abundance of large, pale, two-legged creatures. No, not their fellow newcomers; we’re talking about the region’s feathered fauna: the myriad species of white birds that also call the region home.
Egrets and ibis, herons and pelicans —they all come in white varieties, and that can be confusing, especially since some of them look very similar at first glance.
Unlike some other species that have memory devices to help tell them apart (think “Red on yellow, kill a fellow; red on black, venom lack” for the coral snake versus kingsnake IDs) retired FGCU professor Jerry Jackson, the region’s preeminent ornithologist can’t think of any such handy rhymes for telling white birds apart.
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“I've never heard of any,” he says, “But it’d be a good idea, because there are so many.”
Kathy Miller, who’s been trying to figure out just which bird’s been hanging around her North Fort Myers pond, could sure use one. “My mnemonic is ‘What the heck is that?’ she jokes.
Maybe the region’s pioneers were onto something, with their one-name-fits-all monicker for white wading birds.
“In my youth 70 or more years ago, most wadin' birds were called ‘pond scoggins,’ usually with a very brief description,” according to Florida native Billy Murphyof LaBelle. “For instance,” he says in dialect, “They wuz a bunch a them great big ol' white pond scoggins in that little ol' pond down by our house yesterday."
Alva resident Beatrice Aney recalls her grandfather, Paul Styles, saying, “Your legs are whiter than a pond scoggins'."
To help tell all those scogginses apart, here’s a quick guide to Southwest Florida’s white birds. And while we didn’t write it in verse, we hope it’ll at least be a helpful start.
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White ibis (Eudocimus albus):
Length: 22 inches.
Wingspan: 38 inches.
Look for: Pink curved bill, long neck, pink curved bill and red legs. Juveniles are mottled brown.
Details: Highly sociable, ibis feed and roost in flocks and fly in V formation, necks extended. Other waders, including egrets and herons, will often follow in their path for a free meal. Both parents feed their young by regurgitation; although adults prefer a diet of saltwater crustaceans, especially crabs, they dine exclusively in fresh water when chicks arrive because saltwater edibles are toxic to their young.
Great egret (Ardea alba):
Length: 35 to 41 inches.
Wingspan: up to 50 inches.
Look for: Pointed yellow bill, long neck, black legs and feet. Sometimes confused with juvenile great blue herons, which are larger and have green legs.
Details: Once known both as the great white heron and American egret, Jackson says. Usually feeds alone in fresh or salt marshes.
Snowy egret (Egretta thula):
Length: 24 inches.
Wingspan: 38 inches.
Look for: Black bill, black legs and yellow feet, which has earned them the nickname “golden slippers.” Distinguished from great egret by smaller size and distinctive white plume.
Details: In the early 19th century, the snowy egret was hunted to near extinction for its distinctive plumes, which were popular in women's hats.
Wood stork (Mycteria Americana):
Length: 35 to 45 inches.
Wingspan: 66 inches.
Look for: Thick gray bill with downward curve at the tip, gray, naked head and neck,gray legs and feet, black flight feathers and tail.
Details: A very slow, stalking feeder, the wood stork really excels in the air, where it can often be seen soaring in circles at very high altitude. Their enormous nesting colonies have been known to number up to 10,000 pairs; one prominent local rookery can be seen at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples.
American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos):
Length: 62 inches.
Wingspan: 8 feet.
Look for: Orange bill and pouch, short orange legs and webbed feet.
Details: The American white pelican differs from its more common brown cousin in several ways: It does not plunge into the water from the air but feeds instead while swimming; it rests on sandbars rather than in trees, and it will soar in circles high in the sky on afternoon thermals.
Cattle egret. (Bubulcus ibis):
Length: 17 inches.
Wingspan: 37 inches.
Look for: Pointed orangey yellow bill, yellow legs and feet (though to confuse things, juveniles havedarklegs and bills.
Look for: Much smaller than the other egrets in Florida, this adaptable little bird can indeed be found placidly riding cows, picking off insects as they land. That's a carryover from their African origins, says Jackson, wherethey hangout around large grazing mammalslike water buffalo and things like that. "The large mammals were essentially beaters," Jackson says, "walking through the grass to munch on the grass, and when they walked, they would stir up insects and the insects would jump and the cattle egrets would get them." In these parts, they also follow lawn mowers, snatching stirred-up bugs, (that is, when they're nothanging out at fast-food restaurants looking for a free meal).
Little blue heron (Egretta caerulea):
Length: 24 inches.
Wingspan: 40 inches.
Look for: Two-toned gray bill, pale greenish yellow legs and feet.
Details: Wait, what? Doesn’t their name say they’re blue? Well, yes, but only once they’re grown up. As juveniles, they are indeed white, making them tricky to ID, says veteran birder and photographer Geoff Coe, who adds this tidbit: “Do you know why they're white in their first year? Recent studies suggest that the white plumage makes them more easily accepted by snowy egrets, who are quite feisty when protecting their favored fishing spots. Because snowies are such aggressive feeders, and more efficient than little blues at finding prey,being able to tag along the youngsters survive their first year.”
— Sources: Dr. Jerry Jackson, The News-Press archives, Cornell Library of Ornithology, Birds of North America Online
