Great Egrets

Photo copyright © 2005 Jim Jung and licensors. All rights reserved.

Great Egrets are spectacular birds. One of the 187 species that breed in our area these creatures are most often seen fishing in flooded lowlands, particularly in the fall just before they migrate south to the Gulf Coast where they overwinter each year. While extremely conspicuous these large white herons are fairly shy and easily spooked.

Great Egrets return to rebuild nests in the traditional rookeries they share with other heron species. These nests are little more than a loose platform of twigs and sticks large enough and sturdy enough (barely) to support their eggs and young. Eggs will begin being laid in these rookeries about two weeks after their arrival here, followed a few weeks later by some of the ugliest baby birds on earth.

Great Egrets had a brush with extinction early in the last century when (for some unfathomable reason) fashion dictated that they adorn ladies' hats. Large and colorful birds of all kinds - herons, Great Egrets, Whooping Cranes and Snowy Egrets, among many others - fell before the hunters' guns sacrificing their lives and their species' future on the altar of human vanity.

Fortunately farsighted individuals stepped forward and began rescue efforts for the survivors, helped immeasurably by laws that made it illegal to kill or molest the birds or traffic in their feathers. A few species - notably the Whooping Crane - have yet to fully recover from this folly but the populations of the Great Egrets, and their cousins the Snowy Egrets, are now considered stable and safe. So long as we preserve the wildlands they need to rear their young and procure their food they'll be with us for a very long time to come.

Offsite Links:

• USGS Great Egret page
• Several striking photos of Great Egrets

Suggest a link! Send suggestions to Webmaster