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Snowy Egret

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

Snowy Egret Portrait
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General

Snowy Egret: Medium-sized, white egret with slender black bill. Legs are black while feet are bright yellow. Head, neck and back have long, lacy plumes during breeding season. Sexes are similar.

Range and 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.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"wulla-wulla-wulla"

Interesting Facts

  • At the end of the nineteenth century, the beautiful plumes of the Snowy Egret were in great demand by market hunters as decorations for women's hats. In 1886, plumes were valued at $32 per ounce, which was twice the price of gold at the time. They were hunted nearly to extinction before laws were passed to protect them.
  • There is evidence that a pair of Snowy Egrets cannot recognize each other except at the nest. Even there, a bird arriving to relieve its mate must perform an elaborate greeting ceremony in order to avoid being attacked as an intruder.
  • They choose urbanized nesting locations over isolated ones, because isolated locations have more predators. Egrets use flight to escape predation from terrestrial animals and they are known to have innate recognition and avoidance of poisonous snakes.
  • A group of egrets has many collective nouns, including a "congregation", "heronry", "RSVP", "skewer", and "wedge" of egrets.


Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Snowy 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 thula
Length22 - 27 Inches
Wingspan41.5 Inches

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.

Flight Pattern

Buoyant flight with steady fast wing beats.
Snowy Egret Body Illustration
● 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.
BreedingMonogamous, Colonial
PopulationExpanding northward, Increasing
MigrationMigratory
Weight13.1 Ounces