SNOWY EGRETS OR THE BAD HAIR DAY EGRET!!!

One of the smaller egrets is the Snowy Egret. It looks a lot like the Great White Egret only smaller. The great white is about 3.5 feet tall while the snowy egret is about two feet in length and has a wingspan of about three feet. It has white feathers, a yellow patch of skin around its eyes, a black bill and black legs with bright yellow feet. In breeding season, it has lacy plumes on its head, neck and back. Males and females look alike.  I really found them to be really cute and pretty funny looking. They always seem to be having a bad hair day.

The snowy egret runs after its food. It eats shrimp, minnows and other small fish,  crustaceans and frogs. It often feeds in groups.

The snowy egret breeds on the Atlantic Coast, the Pacific Coast and the Gulf Coast. It is also found in some inland areas. It winters from California south to South America on the west coast and from Virginia south to the West Indies on the east coast.
 When it comes to the nesting season.The male selects a  breeding area. Both the male and female build the nest. The male collects the materials and the female does the constructing. The nest is made of reeds and twigs and is placed in a bush or on the ground. The female lays three to five eggs and both parents share incubation duties. The eggs hatch in about three weeks. Both parents care for the chicks and feed them regurgitated food. The chicks fledge when they are about a month old.

    The mother slowly turning the eggs to insure all sides get evenly warm.


We really enjoyed watching the snowy egret at the Alligator farm. It would fly from one tree to the other constantly looking to mate. Sometime it would be welcomed but when it was not the female made it pretty clear that he was not welcomed!! But undeterred he would just fly on to the next tree or shrub. The males were not that bothered if the female already had a suitor. It would attempt to land beside or between the two often scaring the other male away.

He would then perch next to the female and the two would act like they had been together all the time. To be honest maybe they were and the other male was the intruder. Either way the two of them would stay side by side for quite a while.

Like other egrets, the snowy egret was once killed for its plumes. Its population was seriously damaged in the 1800's. It has made a recovery and is no longer hunted.
WE should all be grateful for that, to not have these beautiful birds around would be a real shame.