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The great egret (Ardea alba), also known as the common egret, large egret, or (in the Old World) great white egret [2] or great white heron, [3] [4] [5] is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and southern Europe. Recently, it has also been spreading to more northern areas of Europe.
The diet includes vertebrates such as fish, frogs, small reptiles, small birds and rodents, and invertebrates such as insects, crustaceans, and molluscs. The eastern great egret hunts by wading or standing still in shallow water and "spearing" prey with its bill. [8]
Herons, egrets, and bitterns are carnivorous. The members of this family are mostly associated with wetlands and water and feed on a variety of live aquatic prey. Their diet includes a wide variety of aquatic animals, including fish, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, molluscs, and aquatic insects.
Great egret in flight Egrets at dusk in Kolleru Lake, Andhra Pradesh, India. Many egrets are members of the genera Egretta or Ardea, which also contain other species named as herons rather than egrets. The distinction between a heron and an egret is rather vague, and depends more on appearance than biology.
The great egret (Ardea alba) does not directly compete with the great blue heron; instead it consumes small mammals, amphibians, and sometimes insects. Great blue heron. The tricolored heron (Egretta tricolor) is similar in diet and habitat to the great egret and can be spotted at the Estero River and estuary in the early morning. This heron ...
The snowy egret is the American counterpart to the very similar Old World little egret, which has become established in the Bahamas. At one time, the plumes of the snowy egret were in great demand as decorations for women's hats. [4] They were hunted for these plumes and this reduced the population of the species to dangerously low levels. [5]
Great egret, (Ardea alba), also known as the great white egret, common egret or white heron; Eastern great egret (Ardea alba modesta) "A White Heron", ...
The family Ardeidae contains the bitterns, herons and egrets. Herons and egrets are medium to large wading birds with long necks and legs. Bitterns tend to be shorter necked and more wary. Members of Ardeidae fly with their necks retracted, unlike other long-necked birds such as storks, ibises and spoonbills. Great bittern, Botaurus stellaris