Funky Feathers

Hi -- Last week I went out on the boat to "bird island". It's a mangrove island that hundreds of birds all come back to every night. You see them streaming in over the lagoon -- all different types.  Lots of grunting, cackling, and flopping around until they get settled in for the night.

This is a picture of a juvenile reddish egret that was practicing fishing. It and his/her pal would pick up small sticks in the shallow water, sometimes grabbing from each other.  Periodically it would lift its wing like this to shade the water from the sun so it could see what might be hanging out around his feet.  (One of the cesiak-friends, Vince, took this picture).

The other picture is of an adult reddish egret. Jorge (one of the guides at cesiak that we will meet at the beginning of the trip) kept laughing and saying "funky feathers"!

So I have a question -- why does the reddish egret have such funky feathers. They seem so different than the other birds at the bird hotel.  Anyone have any ideas?

I bet when wearing bird feathers on ladies hats was in fashion, the reddish egrets were under seige!

Here is a cool site -- you can here what it sounds like and learn about it as well.