Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The White Great Egrets

by: Tom Berg

Visitors to ponds and shallow wetlands are likely to see a particularly tall and stately bird: the Great Egret. Great egrets are large wading birds that look like great blue herons, except that their feathers are all pure white. They have a large yellow beak and black legs. They are also called white egrets, common egrets or white herons.

Most great egrets fly south for the winter, heading to sites along the southern U.S. coast, Mexico and even as far away as southern Central America. Of course, certain populations living in our warmer southern states like Texas and Florida never feel the need to migrate at all.

Great egrets are very tall birds, usually standing over three feet high with a wingspan of five feet. They put their long legs to good use as they wade in shallow pools and along the banks of ponds, lakes, creeks and rivers. They have a long S-curved neck that they use to strike at their prey in the blink of an eye, and their long, sharp beak is well-suited to grabbing food underwater. During the breeding season, they develop a patch of bright green skin that extends from their eye all the way to their yellow beak.

Although small fish like minnows, sunfish and bullheads make up much of their diet, they also catch lots of frogs, tadpoles, crayfish, baby turtles, snakes and large aquatic insects. Their preferred hunting method is to stand stock-still in shallow water and wait for a small fish or other creature to swim within range. Then they nab it with a lightning-quick strike.

Even though great egrets are common today, they were nearly hunted to extinction in the late 1800s for their beautiful white feathers which adorned fashionable ladies’ hats.  Their plight sparked conservation movements in the United States, and laws were passed to protect the birds.  In fact, the National Audubon Society uses the great egret as its symbol on its logo.

The next time you see one, just remember that conservation efforts can indeed save threatened species from extinction!

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