A Mother Goose Tale
FIELD NOTE
January 9, 2026—Kerrville, Texas
After seeing this scene multiple times on different days for several weeks, I’ve come to the conclusion that we have an ugly duckling situation going on here. This Great Egret enjoys the company of her pintail duck buddies and may believe she’s one of them. If you walk the river trail behind Dietert Center on any given day, you may spot them. The exact location has differed from day to day but they’re usually back there somewhere.
Our Mother Goose egret stands in the shallows of the Guadalupe River among her charges.
Is it always the same egret? I’m assuming it is but I could be wrong.
Also, I’m aware that egrets sometimes eat small birds, including ducklings, which would make this a much darker fairy tail. But so far, I’ve seen nothing but peaceful interactions. They spend time together. The egret fishes and the pintails dabble for submerged plants or enjoy the occasional insect.
Eyeballing the catch.
According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife, fish are the Great Egret’s main meal but they’ll also eat frogs, snakes, aquatic insects, crayfish, mice, and occasionally, small birds.
After some months of watching, here’s what I’ve figured out. If you want to catch a photo of them catching something in the water, watch for the low tilted head.
Those eyes on the sides of their heads give them great panoramic vision but are positioned far enough forward for binocular view that gives them depth perception. While they can focus on objects directly in front of them or below their bills, they use the parallax motion—side-to-side head movement to get a 3-D view of prey—to determine distance to prey in the water.
Of course, I didn’t know these details until I looked them up. But I did notice the behavior that often precedes a strike.
Using the parallax motion for depth perception to judge the distance to prey.
Many birds have laterally-placed eyes, so this kind of movement is common since it’s a critical mechanism for depth perception. Now I’m wondering where else I’ve seen this but just didn’t realize what it was.
