Facts about Great Egret
- 07
Their neck contains 17 vertebrae allowing Great Egrets to bend and strike with remarkable precision when spearing fish in water.
- 06
Colonial nesting sites of Great Egrets can hold hundreds of breeding pairs stacked in trees, with chicks fledging within 6-7 weeks of hatching.
- 05
Solitary hunters by nature, Great Egrets space themselves far apart while feeding to minimize competition, unlike herons that often congregate in large feeding flocks.
- 04
Populations of Great Egrets nearly vanished by 1900 due to plume hunting but rebounded dramatically after the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 protected them.
- 03
Great Egrets can consume up to 1 pound of fish daily, using their sharp beaks to spear prey with lightning-fast strikes in murky water.
- 02
At 3.5 feet tall with a 4.5-foot wingspan, Great Egrets can fly at speeds up to 30 miles per hour while hunting fish in shallow wetlands.
- 01
During breeding season, Great Egrets develop specialized greenish skin on their face and long ornamental plumes worth their weight in gold to 19th-century hat makers.