Wildlife that calls wetlands home

Marsh-dwelling osprey. Hawk-like. Ospreys eat fish. It eats seabirds and fish. Ospreys dive feet-first to catch fish. Ospreys can dive 100 feet and achieve 50 mph.

Osprey

Whooping crane, after its call. Largest and rarest US bird. Cranes breed in Canada and Texas. Whooping cranes' long tracheas make their bugle.

Whooping Crane

Long-necked Long-legged Sandhill Cranes. Red eyemask. Sandhill cranes inhabit wetlands. They eat muck. Sandhill cranes winter inland and summer in marshes.

Sandhill Cranes

Bitterns love marshes and wetlands. Bitterns are secretive grass-eaters. Covertly. Clack-and-gulp. Bitterns mix with brown-striped marsh plants.

American Bittern 

Swamp Sparrows inhabit reeds and cattails. Swamp birds sing. The swamp sparrow has longer legs. They can hunt insects in shallow water. Many swamp sparrows.

Swamp Sparrow

Ibises hunt in wetlands with their bent bills. 14-day-old Ibises with curved bills. Ibises nest in trees near shorelines and wetlands and eat in shallow water in large colonies.

White Ibis

Spoonbills are fascinating swamp birds. Only America has roseate spoonbills. Named for its pink feathers and spoon-shaped beak. Spoonbills filter insects from muddy marsh water with their bills.

Roseate Spoonbill

Green Herons frequent marshes. They slouch over in greenery. They seek near coastlines and shallows with their green feathers. The green heron has a long neck, legs, and bill to spear fish.

Green Herons

The heron is bigger than the egret. Great egrets fish in marshes. They hunt from shallow water. Nesting with coastal and wetland birds.

Great Egrets

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