Everglades National Park Birding: Great Egret

The Great Egret is often mistaken for the Great White Heron, a morph of the Great Blue Heron unique to the Park and the Keys. The two can easily be distinguished as Herons have yellow or green legs while Egrets legs are black. The Herons are also larger than the Great Egrets but its tough to tell unless they are near one another. They, like many other species in Everglades National Park, feed in the shallows primarily on fish, crustaceans and amphibians.

When the bait is forced into pockets - either by low tide or low water during the dry season - the egrets congregate as well. Like other egrets, these birds were hunted to near extinction for their plumage but have made a great comeback.

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