Snowy Egret
Snowy Egret: Medium-sized, totally white egret with a long slender black bill with yellow lores. The eyes are yellow and legs are black while feet are bright yellow. The head, neck and back have long, lacy plumes during breeding season. Generally silent and feeds on crustaceans, insects, and fish.
● Song:
"wulla-wulla-wulla"
● Foraging & Feeding:
Snowy Egret: Eats small fish, crustaceans, and insects, but also takes small reptiles and amphibians; forages by walking slowly or standing motionless in water and striking at prey.
● Breeding & nesting:
Snowy Egret: Lays two to six pale blue-green eggs in a platform nest built primarily of twigs and built in a tree, usually about 7 feet above the ground; occasionally nests in marsh grass and rarely on the ground. Both parents incubate eggs for 18 days.
● Similar species:
Snowy Egret: Great Egret and "Great White" Heron are larger with thicker, yellow bills. Cattle Egret is smaller with yellow or orange bill and pale legs. Reddish Egret and Juvenile Little Blue Heron have dark-tipped pale bills and gray legs.
● Range & Habitat:
Snowy Egret: Breeds locally from Oregon and California east to New England, mainly along coasts. Spends winters regularly from California, Arizona, and Virginia south to the West Indies and South America. Preferred habitats include marshes, ponds, swamps, and mudflats.