What? No, I don’t twerk, at least not intentionally, but yes, I know what twerking is. You’ll have to watch these short videos and decide for yourselves if Reddish Egrets twerk while fishing. Really, watch them. Reddish Egret Fishing Dance and more.

I have written here about egrets (No r-egrets blog post June 28, 2021) and other herons (Do bees have knees blog post July 20, 2020 and Koi… blog post Sept. 19, 2023), but until last month’s trip to Florida’s Gulf Coast, I had never met a Reddish Egret. When I did, I was struck by their intoxicating beauty and by the impression that this particular egret was, well, intoxicated. Now I know, as you do, that they were merely fishing or twerking while fishing.

Reddish Egrets hunt for small fish and crustaceans by literally dancing through shallow water to stir them up. Even more, they use their large wings to shade the water, which lures their prey into the “safety” of a shaded spot while cutting the sun’s glare to make the hapless creatures easier to spot. They sometimes spread their wings entirely over their heads to create an umbrella-like enclosure called “canopy feeding.”

Of North America's ten heron and egret species, the Reddish Egret is the rarest, with fewer than 2000 breeding pairs, mainly spread around the Gulf coastlines of Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. During the heyday of 19th-century plume hunting, the species was nearly eliminated.

While over 80% of Reddish Egrets are, in fact, reddish, there is also a white variant that resembles a Snowy Egret. Reddish Egrets are generally non-migratory, but a few may fly south to Central America and the Caribbean to nest.

Though Reddish Egrets are not found in Norway, the Norwegians have adopted a more apt name for them - Dansehegre, or dancing egret. Or maybe it should be Twerkhegre?