Snowy Egret, the Bird with Golden Feet

This is a Snowy Egret, Egretta thula, and it belongs to the Ardeidae family which includes herons, egrets, and bitterns.  You can learn more about these beautiful birds at Audobon.org and All About Birds.org. Snowy egrets are smaller than the common egret and larger than the cattle egret. All three can be seen in some parts of their range. The black bill, black legs and yellow feet are the characters that identify this species in the field.  Snowy egrets are hunters in the shallow waters of fresh and marine environments. They wade and spear prey with their bill which can include fish, crustaceans, as well as insects, lizards and snakes, and even small rodents.