The elegant Great Egret is one of the most striking birds in Faville Grove’s wetlands—a tall, statuesque hunter clad in pure white feathers, moving with deliberate grace. Slightly smaller and slimmer than its cousin, the Great Blue Heron, this bird still commands attention with its five-foot wingspan and spear-like yellow bill. Watching one stalk fish in a marsh or rise on slow, steady wingbeats is like glimpsing a living piece of art.
This Great Egret in breeding plumage shows neon green lores and fans out delicate aigrettes. (Photo by Arlene Koziol)
During the breeding season, the already elegant egret gets even flashier. In adult birds, the bare skin between the eyes and bill turns neon green, and they grow long, wispy plumes called aigrettes which cascade like puffs of firework smoke over their backs. Males perform elaborate courtship displays, fanning plumes, clacking bills, and presenting sticks to prospective mates.
Nests are built high in trees, often in rookeries—dense colonies shared with herons, ibises, and cormorants. Both parents incubate the clutch of three or four pale green eggs for about four weeks. But life in the nest is anything but peaceful. Great Egrets are notorious for siblicide: larger chicks will often kill their smaller siblings, ensuring that at least one chick survives when food is scarce. The young fledge around two months of age, but survival is still a challenge. Raccoons, crows, hawks, and snakes all prey on eggs and young birds. Adults, on the other hand, have few predators—they are simply too large and formidable.
Great Egrets are consummate fishers. They employ two main strategies: standing motionless like a statue until prey comes within range, or stalking slowly through shallow water before unleashing a lightning-quick jab of the bill. Their diet is not limited to fish—they’ll take frogs, salamanders, crayfish, snakes, small mammals, and even other birds. Occasionally they’ve been seen swimming after prey or hovering briefly above the water before plunging down—a reminder that patience is their usual tactic, but not their only one. At Faville Grove Sanctuary, you might catch one hunting among cattails, where fish and amphibians abound in the shallow waters.
A Great Egret hunts along the water’s edge at Faville Grove Sanctuary. (Photo by Jeff Steele/SoWBA)
Great Egrets are truly cosmopolitan, found on every continent except Antarctica. In North America, they breed across much of the southern US but have steadily expanded northward. Here in Wisconsin, they nest in colonies along the Mississippi River and in large wetland complexes. In summer and fall, wandering individuals and post-breeding flocks can turn up almost anywhere—Faville Grove included. Late July through September is prime time to see them dispersing into new wetlands.
The Great Egret holds a special place in conservation history. In the late 1800s, fashion nearly drove it to extinction. Their aigrettes were prized for ladies’ hats, which led to hunters slaughtering egrets by the thousands, decimating populations across North America. Outrage over this helped inspire the early bird conservation movement and eventually the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, one of the first major victories for bird protection. The Great Egret is still the symbol of the National Audubon Society.
Great Egret. (Photo by Jeff Steele/SoWBA)
From the brink of extinction a century ago to healthy, expanding populations today, the Great Egret is one of the great conservation success stories. In fact, in Wisconsin, they’ve become more common in recent decades, with more frequent inland sightings as wetlands are restored and populations recover. Their presence is not just visually stunning, but ecologically important: as top wetland predators, they help regulate fish, amphibian, and insect populations.
So next time you visit Faville Grove, take a moment to scan the edges of the marsh or the backwaters of the Crawfish River. With a little patience, you just might see a Great Egret standing tall in the shallows, a living emblem of resilience and a shining reminder of what conservation can achieve.
Written by Jeff Steele, Faville Grove Sanctuary land steward
Cover photo by Courtney Celley/USFWS. A Great Egret flies low over water.
