Eastern Great Egret

The Eastern Great Egret is white heron species

with various names like Great Egret, White Egret, Large Egret, Great White Egret, Common Egret, White Crane, White Heron or Large Heron.

It is large and widely distributed egret with the scientific name Ardea Alba Modesta falling under the genus Ardea and sub species Ardea alba. They are widely spread throughout Asia. The quick classification of Eastern Great Egret is given below,

Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Aves
Order	Pelecaniformes
Family	Ardeidae
Genus	Ardea
Species	Ardea alba
Subspecies	Ardea Alba Modesta

Physical Characteristics:

The Eastern Great Egret is a large white heron bird with entire white plumage. Their bill is black and during the breeding season it turns yellow. The legs are red or black in color. The bare parts change color during its breeding season. Lores are yellow in color. Iris is yellow colored. A black color line could be seen beyond the eye. The upper leg is thinner than lower leg. During the breeding season the plumage is marked by long neck with loose feathers and green facial area. During the courtship the bill changes to grey black and the iris turns red color. The lores turn olive green from pale green color. The color of the leg becomes variably pink, purple red, red or brown red.

During incubation, they slowly change their color to normal.

Like other birds, males are larger than females. These solitary birds measure about 83 to 103 cm in length and weigh about 0.7 to 1.2 kilograms. Their wings are 4.3 to 4.8 feet (1.3 to 1.5 m) long.

They often occur solitarily or in small groups with their chicks. They can be seen in flocks where the group consists of more of hundreds of birds. Nests are seen in colonies which are mono-specific or shared with other birds like herons, egrets, ibises, cormorants and spoonbills.

Behaviour:

White heron makes various calls depending on the situation. The call variations are as below,
"Cuk, cuk, cuk, cuk"/ glok, glok, glok, glok" - Disturbance call produced at the nest.
"Arrrr"/ "ar, ar, ar, ar, aaar" - Call made during the flight
"Gorork" - Call given for the greeting ceremony
"Kek, kek, kek, kek" - Chicks produce this sound seeking for food.

Habitat:

The Eastern Great Egret prefers variety of habitat like water pools, streams, lakes, river, swamps and marshes, seasonally they prefer herbaceous marshes. They use mud flats, mangrove swamps, tidal streams, lagoon, salt pans, off shore reefs and salt marsh. It also prefers living in artificial habitats including reservoirs, flooded fields, sewage ponds, pasture, and ditches. For nesting they look for isolated trees or bushes which are close to water vegetation. They prefer islands with trees as far as roosting is concerned.

Migration:

The migration happens at the Post breeding season which is the unique characteristic of Eastern Great Egrets. A portion of birds in India migrate to Japan and Philippines.

Their diet consists of majorly fish

and other than that they prefer feeding on frogs, beetles, flies, cricket, dragonfly, snails, small reptiles, bugs, crayfish, prawns, small birds and rodents, and invertebrates like crustaceans, insects, and molluscs. They prefer preying on various birds like chickens, kingfisher, crake, white eye, swallows and sparrows. The Eastern Great Egret searches for food by wading or standing motionless in shallow water and "spearing" prey with its long bill. They are diurnal foragers. It feeds solitarily or in small groups. They walk slowly in shallow water at about 30 cm deep with an erect posture. It uses peering over, head swaying and head tilting to hunt its prey.

Places Found

The Eastern Great Egret is widely found throughout Asia and Oceania, with breeding populations in various countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Burma, Bangladesh, Thailand, north-eastern Russia, China, Korea, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Indochina, the Solomon Islands and New Zealand.

Mating and Nesting:

Eastern great egret commonly breeds during the months of November to early May. They are mainly colonial nesters, wherein they share the nest of other birds like night herons, spoonbills, ibises and cormorants. The female builds nest with sticks, reed beds and dry branches brought by the male with a shallow basin for eggs at the tall tree tops. The pair formation happens after interesting activities like Twig Shake, Wing Preen, Circle Flight and Bill Clappering. The clutch consists of 2 to 5 eggs. The oval shaped eggs are pale blue in color with a size of 52 x 36 mm. Incubation is taken care most of the time by the female and at times by the male.

Incubation happens for around 23 to 29 days. Initially, the feeding happens at the nest and later away from the nest. After chick rearing they are left unguarded and they tend to learn things by their own. Nestlings have cream white colored feathers at its under parts. Their bill is yellow with black tip, and a gape that extends beyond the eye. The iris is colored with straw and the lores are green. The legs are grey and they have a crown longer down on the head.

The major threat these birds

were facing earlier was hunting for its plume. These plumes are used primarily for hat decoration. The other reason for decrease in population may happen when the eggs in the nest are not incubated properly or the chicks are left to starve or the other birds in their colonies kill the chicks. In some region they encounter habitat loss due to activities like grazing, drainage of wetlands and clearing.

Their predators include raccoons, vultures, crows, and humans during habitat destruction. IUCN has classified these birds as "least concern" since they maintain stable population numbers. No conservation efforts have been implemented since they seem to be distributed across various parts of India.

Subspecies of Great Egret in India

There are four subspecies of Great Egret known to exist in various parts of the world. As follows:

• Ardea alba alba - Found in Europe
• Ardea alba egretta - Found in America
• Ardea alba melanorhynchos - Found in Africa
• Ardea alba modesta - Found in India, Southeast Asia, and Oceania

Interesting facts about Eastern Great Egret

1. Their life span is 1 to 3 years and 22 years in captivity.
2. The Eastern great egret is the symbol of the National Audubon Society.
3. The snowy white beautiful plumage of this bird made it far too popular in the 19th-century at various parts of world.
4. Young egrets behave aggressively amongst themselves in the nest, and stronger siblings often kill their weaker kin.