ELEGANT FLIP

An egret, known for its elegance, begins its ascent into the heavens.

Nearby, a spoonbill searches for food, using its bill to sift through the water and vegetation.

Despite belonging to different species, the egret and spoonbill exhibit similar feeding or symbiotic behaviours: the spoonbill searches through the lush vegetation of the nearby bank, while the egret follows and awaits close by. The spoonbill's foraging causes fish to move erratically away from the banks and their cover, leaving the egret with some opportunities to spear its prey.

On this misty morning, both birds were working their way along one side of the river bank. With the river tide in full flow, the spoonbill had moved into slightly shallower waters in search of its edible favourites. As it turned its attention to one large clump of vegetation, a large shoal of skittish fish swarmed away from underneath into the middle of the channel, attracting the immediate attention of the egret on the nearside. In this moment, and with a large flip of its wings, it took off in an attempt to reach the shoal in the hope of spearing one.