[Ardea alba]
Great Egret (en)/ 중대백로 (ko)/ czapla biała (pl)/ Garceta Grande (es)/ Silberreiher (de)/ オオダイサギ_daisagi (ja)/ 大白鹭 (zh)
Like a ballet dancer wearing white tutu, egrets show off elegant aigrette feathers while walking with long legs. Even its reflection on the water seems to speak out what is the perfect beauty.
Whereas the ornamental elements can be seen only during breeding season, we can anytime observe their necks, which never hide their secrets.
A neck is usually presented in the typical S-shape;
suddenly stretched out vertically like a long, white snake;
then returned to S-shape;
then again stretched over a water.
Got a fish.
The neck is now elongated to swallow the giant meal.
(nobody expected a ballet dancer could have a big meal. 😅)
The elegant neck is trying hard to regain its decency but the fighting fish makes strange bumps on it.
The fish does not give up.
So the neck is now compressed to a collapsed S-shape.
Finally, the battle is done and the neck is returned to its sleek S-shape. 😁
Unlike mammals' rule of 7 for the number of cervical vertebrae (except sloths and manatees), birds have interspecific difference in the number of cervical vertebrae (mostly 14-15, up to 25 [[black swan]).
Even though its neck is so crowded with many vertebral columns, esophagus, trachea, blood vessles, nerves, and all soft tissues could find their own places.
What a wonder!
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