Wading birds - "Our Planet" Images

About Wading Birds . . . .

Wading birds live in lakes, ponds, marshes, mudflats, flooded areas and swamps. Wading birds include herons, egrets, bitterns, ibises, coots, moorhens, rails and cranes.

Wading birds have physical and behavioral traits for living on or near water and they depend on water as a source of food, shelter and nesting sites.

All Wading birds have long thin legs and long agile toes. Most Wading birds have long bills with specialized shapes depending of the types of food they eat. Their diets include fish, amphibians, invertebrates and plants.

When searching for food they don’t swim or dive to catch food, they wade into shallow water. Physically they are perfect for this type of environment. Long thin toes disperse their weight keeping them from sinking into soft mud, long legs keep their feather dry when searching for food and a long neck makes it possible to strike prey that is on the other end of their long legs.

Wading birds are patient hunters as they may stand motionless for long periods of time waiting for prey to come within reach. Their steps are slow and deliberate when moving so they don’t scare their prey. Some birds also hide in the marsh vegetation waiting for unsuspecting prey to come along.

I will be adding more species of Wading Birds as I am able to see them and photograph them so check back later to see my new photos of these birds.

Bittern

American Bittern