Give me a flooded Louisiana field and I will give you water birds! Not a stellar photo; my DOF too ...

Give me a flooded Louisiana field and I will give you water birds!

Not a stellar photo; my DOF too shallow. But I thought it interesting enough to share. I see six seven species here:

The really dark foreground birds with curved beaks are Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus). The bird with the curved beak and pale head walking toward right frame is also an ibis, but probably a White-Faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi). And, as +Geoffrey Helmbold indicates, there are probably some white-faced ibises mixed in with the glossies in the group.

I'm pretty sure the trio of grayish birds with straight black bills in the mid-ground are Long-Billed Dowitchers (Limnodromus scolopaceus), and if I'm right, seeing them is not so common. In fact, the one Long-Billed Dowitcher in the photo is at water's edge behind the feeding stilt. You really have to zoom in to see it. They come to the southern U.S. from way, way north only during their non-breeding season.

The three in the center are Yellowlegged Sandpipers, but I don't know if they are "Greaters" or "Lessers." Do you, +Geoffrey Helmbold?

Just past the trio is a pair of Black-necked Stilts (Himantopus mexicanus). They are the smallest birds in the frame and look like they're wearing tuxes without ties!

The big white birds in the background are Great Egrets (Ardea alba).

But the one, stockier, shorter-necked white bird standing at the edge of the water in mid-ground is something else. Not sure what! Part of the problem is I can't tell whether its bill is actually black or just muddy. The most obvious answer would be Cattle Egret, but I don't see any telltale tan feathers on the head and back. And the bill doesn't look curved enough to be a White Ibis. I'm stumped! +Geoffrey Helmbold to the rescue! It's a Snowy Egret (Egretta thula), which means the bill is black, not just muddy. If I had been able to see a foot, I'd NOT have been stumped. Snowy Egrets have black legs and yellow feet!

Thanks so much for the corrections, +Geoffrey Helmbold!

For #waterbirdwednesday +Water Bird Wednesday, curated by +Margaret Tompkins.