An elegant young Great White Heron perches amid mangrove prop roots along Key Largo Sound, Pennecamp, Florida Keys

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The Great White Heron considered a white color morph of the Great Blue Heron walks along the prop roots of a mangrove community above water's edge at Key Largo Sound. Audubon considered this magnificent and elegant bird to be its own species, Ardea occidentalis. Today most consider it a color variant of Ardea herodias. And some, including this writer, consider it at minimum a sub-species. The name Ardea herodias occidentalis honors the original species name given by Audubon when he encountered this white bird for the first time. It is truly a Keys bird as it does not occur much north of the southern Everglades around the Flamingo Area. This image is not digitally altered as to natural environment but it is a composite composition.

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Size: 4368px × 2912px
Location: Key Largo Sound, Pennecamp Area, Florida Keys
Photo credit: © Judy Lovell-Janthina Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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