En - The Great Egret

Ardea alba [Linnaeus 1758], the great egret is actually a great white heron (105 cm for a wingspan of up to 170 cm). Its neck forms a very elongated S when at rest, with a kind of break in the middle. Its plumage, on the other hand, is entirely white. In the breeding season, long feathers forming the crest appear on the back. Outside the nesting period, the color of the beak is yellow, darker at the tip. On the other hand, during the nuptial period, the beak becomes orange to black. Legs and feet are black in all seasons.

In France, in a few decades, the great egret has gone from the status of a rare migratory species in wintering to that of a fairly common species with an increasing breeding fraction and above all a large wintering population. This is the case in Miallet and the surrounding area.

The breeding season begins in April. The male begins the construction of the nest (branches, often reeds and sometimes aquatic plants), in a tree above the water, generally more than 5 m high. The species is carnivorous, its diet ranging from insects and aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates to fish or small crustaceans, to small mammals (mice, shrews, voles, young muskrats...). Opportunistic, it is found hunting these small mammals such as herons in winter in meadows or fields sown with cereals. It is also capable of teaming up with cormorants to carry out fruitful fishing in the tail vegetation of ponds while the latter occupy the open water.

In France and Europe, the species is protected.

Find out more: National Natural Heritage Inventory (INPN) website >>