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| Wetlands & Waterfowl's Guide to North American Waterfowl: | |||
| Click to load: American Bittern American Widgeon Black- Crowned Night Heron Black Duck Blue-Winged Teal Canada Goose Canvasback Cattle Egret Common Egret Cinnamon Teal Gadwall Great Blue Heron Great Egret Green-Winged Teal Greater Scaup Lesser Scaup Mallard Mute Swan, Northern Pintail Northern Shoveler Redhead Ring-Necked Snowy Egret Snow Goose Trumpeter Swan Wood Duck |
Great Egret Scroll down for details  Scientific Name: Casmerodius albus Habitat: marshes, lakes, lagoons, wooded swamps and streams. Appearance: 37-41" long. large and white. Yellow bill; legs and feet black. Has long plumes on back during nesting season. Flies with neck folded onto back. Food: Fish, frogs, water snakes and insects. Nesting: Nest is a platform of sticks in bush or tree 20-40 feet above ground or water. Female lays 1-6 pale blue or greenish eggs and both male and female incubate eggs for 23-26 days. Young are downy, leave the nest 6-7 weeks after hatching. Usually nests in colonies. |
The Great Egret was nearly driven to extinction
in the late 1800's by the plume trade. Plume hunters called this bird "long
white", for the filamentous feathers that trail down its back. As the popularity of
plumed hats grew, so did the outcry against them. The founders of America's young
conservation movement decried the plume trade as inhumane, and worked to enact laws to
protect egrets and other plume birds. By World War I, with the change of fashion and
attitude concerning wildlife protection, breeding plumes on ladies hats had all but
disappeared. Additional Photographs: Great Egret, Side View |
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