Great Egret

Casmerodius albus
STANFORD LOCATIONS:

Uncommon visitor to Lagunita when water is present; has been seen feeding on California tiger salamanders there. May forage year-round for small mammals in grassy habitats, though less frequently than the Great Blue Heron.
  
Nest
Location
Nest
Type
Eggs
Mating System
Dev.
Parental Care
Primary &
2ndary Diet
Foraging
Strategy
MF
I: 23 - 26 DAYS
SEMIALTRICIAL 1
SHRUB
 8 feet - 40 feet
(3 feet - 90 feet)
MF
3
(1 - 6)
 MONOG
F: 42 49 DAYS
 MF
SM VERTS
AQUATIC INVERTS
BREEDING: Marshes, swamps, irrigation ditches, tidal estuaries, fresh- and brackish-water margins. 1 brood.
DISPLAYS: Territorial defense incl: erect posturing, supplanting flights. Courtship: advertising calls, circle flight, neck stretch skyward, snap. Greeting ceremony: erects plumes, raises wings.
NEST: Frail, of sticks, twigs. Unlined or lined with tine materials. Occ perennial.
EGGS: Light blue or light bluish-green. 2.2" (57 mm).
DIET: Also insects, lower vertebrates, small birds. Young usu fed frogs, crayfish, fish; regurgitant delivered directly into nestling' mouths, later into nest.
CONSERVATION: Winters s to C.A. Decimated by plume hunters. Clutch and brood sizes have increased since 1972 ban on DDT.
NOTES: Usu in colonies of 10 to 1,000s. Most cosmopolitan of all herons. Young leave nest at 3 weeks. Forages alone or in groups, oft by slowly wading in shallow water, occ commensally with White Ibis or other species. Forages in mixed flocks, occ stealing from smaller species-piracy 5 x more efficient than foraging. Formerly known as American or Common Egret.
ESSAYS: Plume Trade; DDT and Birds; Communal Roosting; Commensal Feeding.
REFERENCES: Hancock and Kushlan, 1984; Mock, 1978; Pratt and Winkler, 1985.

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Except for Stanford Locations, the material in this species treatment is taken, with permission, from The Birder's Handbook (Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, & Darryl Wheye, Simon & Schuster, NY. 1988).