Interesting fishing sequence

Thought I would share this. There is an interesting fishing (foraging?)technique that seems to be spreading among the egrets. Also, there is a bit of a mystery here, as I recorded a very large splash without knowing it. My guess is a small alligator, or a large fish, but I never saw it.

It lunges

Whatever it was trying for, it missed. So what was the big splash?

Snowy egrets and tricolors use this technique a lot. It's sometimes called dip feeding. On all the occasions I've seen them do it, they pick relatively small fish (mosquitofish, killifish) from just below the surface. I've never seen a great egret doing it. My guess is the splash is some larger fish loafing just below the surface. Even a one or two pound fish can make a huge splash and swirl with a big flip or two of the caudal fin. I suppose it could have been a gator, but I would think you would have seen some sign of it before or after the egret spooked it.

I guessing it's a fish, spooked by the egret. I've seen it, too. Sometimes a bird in flight low over the water scares lots of little fish into making lots of little splashes that you don't see until you review the pictures. Sometimes a bigger fish makes a bigger splash.