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Little Egret

Egretta garzettaOrder: CICONIIFORMESFamily: Bitterns, Herons and Egrets (Ardeidae)

Little Egret Portrait
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General

Little Egret: Medium-sized, all white egret with plumes on head, breast, and back, black legs with yellow feet, black bill, and yellow lores. Sexes are similar. Nonbreeding adult lacks head and back plumes, has gray lores, and shows yellow on lower legs. Juvenile resembles nonbreeding adult but lacks breast plumes and has mostly black legs. Difficult to distinguish from Snowy Egret.

Range and Habitat

Little Egret: Widespread in Africa, Asia, Europe, Indian and Southeast Asia, very rarely wanders to the north Atlantic states of North America.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"croak"

Interesting Facts

  • Association of the Little Egret with the Snowy Egret in the Caribbean during winter may account for its appearance in the Northeast. This is a similar situation to the colonization of Cattle Egrets in North America.
  • The Little Egret starred in a BBC documentary that recorded the movement of permanent populations from the Mediterranean into the U.K as a result of milder winters.
  • A group of egrets has many collective nouns, including a "congregation", "heronry", "RSVP", "skewer", and "wedge" of egrets.


Author

David Lukas

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Range Map for Little Egret
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family
Species Egretta garzetta
Length22 - 26 Inches
Wingspan34 - 41 Inches

Little Egret

Little Egret: Medium-sized, all white egret with plumes on head, breast, and back. Legs are black with yellow feet. Black bill, and yellow lores. Nonbreeding adult lacks head and back plumes, has gray lores, and shows yellow on lower legs. Difficult to distinguish from Snowy Egret. Flight is direct.

● Song: "croak"

● Foraging & Feeding: Little Egret: Feeds along shorelines, in wet or dry fields, and may often follow cattle. Eats a wide variety of insects, small fish, crustaceans, amphibians and other small animals.

● Breeding & nesting: Little Egret: Nests in colonies on ground or in trees. Lays five or six green blue eggs that both parents incubate for 21 to 25 days. Chicks make first flight when 40 to 45 days old.

● Similar species: Little Egret: Snowy Egret is virtually identical except that its yellow facial skin continues over the top of the bill instead of being interrupted by a small patch of white feathers.

Flight Pattern

Slow deliberate wing beats.
Little Egret Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Little Egret: Widespread in Africa, Asia, Europe, Indian and Southeast Asia, very rarely wanders to the north Atlantic states of North America.
BreedingColonial
PopulationRare to casual
MigrationNorthern birds migrate
Weight17.6 Ounces