Most of our wading birds here in Florida have one of two hunting styles. Some, like roseate spoonbills and wood storks are mainly filter feeders and capture their food by sifting through the debris on the bottoms of areas of shallow water. The rest are stalking type hunters. They search for a very specific type of food, namely fish. These type hunters can also be broken down into two groups. One group like great blue herons, tend to hold very still in the water and wait for fish to swim too close. The others, like little blue herons and snowy egrets, chase after the fish as they swim around. All of these groups seem to be equally efficient at feeding themselves, they just go about it differently. One of my favorites to watch is the tricolored heron (Egretta tricolor). Not only are they beautifully marked, especially during breeding season, but they are also excellent fishermen. They tend to chase their food, but they don’t run around quite as frantically as some of the others. Instead, they stride along, constantly alert. It’s not entirely unusual for them to slow or even stop their walking once a fish is spotted. The intense look of concentration that they get is quite impressive. It takes quite a few fish to fill up one of these guys, so it’s not surprising that they take their fishing very seriously.