A Snowy Egret, sporting what Sibley Birds describes as “courtship color” (the reddish lores between the beak and the eyes) looks to retrieve a crayfish it had struggled to get under control but ultimately dropped into the shallow waters of the Salt Pond. The Salt Pond is beginning to fill with Azolla, the invasive pond flora that can double its coverage in days, which makes it more difficult for the birds, like this Snowy Egret that rely on their vision, to spot and retrieve prey. Instead of courting a mate, it is courting a loss. But, Snowy Egrets are very efficient hunters so no doubt it soon found another morsel to consume.