The elegant and graceful egret is a beautiful wading bird with a slender and elongated body, long beak, neck, and legs, and a light physique that facilitates flight.
The egret's pristine white plumage is spotlessly clean, although it undergoes significant colour changes during different seasons.
In summer, the bird's beak is orange-yellow, its feet are black, and its toes are yellow, and its eyes are blue.
The occipital part of the egret has several elongated white feathers consisting of spear-shaped long crown feathers, with the longest two being more than 10 cm long, resembling a pair of soft braids.
During winter, the egret's beak becomes dark brown, and the base of the lower beak turns yellow, while its eyes and feet become yellow-green.
Moreover, the ornamental feathers on the back, shoulders, and front neck, which earned the bird the nickname "Demoiselle," disappear during winter.
The yellow-billed egret inhabits diverse environments such as coastal islands, coasts, bays, estuaries, rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, rice paddies, and swampy areas near the coast.
These birds can be observed alone, in pairs or small integrated groups, and occasionally in large groups of dozens of individuals together.
They typically fly to streams, rivers, salt flats, and rice paddies near the coast during the day to move and feed.
When flying, the egret contracts its head back to the back of its shoulders, curves its neck down into a bag, straightens its two feet backwards, protruding far behind the short tail feathers, and slowly drums its two broad wings to fly, appearing calm and graceful.
The egret feeds mainly on small fish but also eats animal foods such as shrimp, crabs, tadpoles, and aquatic insects.
It usually walks along rivers, salt flats, or paddy fields and pecks as it goes. Its long beak, neck, and legs are well-suited for preying on animals in the water.
During feeding, the egret gently wades in the water, moving forward while constantly scanning for small animals in the water, and then suddenly pecks with its long beak, accurately capturing its prey into its mouth.
Occasionally, the egret stands at the water's edge, waiting for an opportunity to feed on passing fish.
The egret genus comprises 13 species, of which four, the Great Egret, Middle Egret, Egret (Little Egret), and Snowy Egret, are all white in plumage and commonly known as egrets.
The Great Egret is large and has neither a crown nor breast feathers, while the Middle Egret is medium-sized and lacks a crown but has breast feathers. In contrast, the Egret and Snowy Egret are small and have both crown and breast feathers.
Egrets have high plumage value, with mostly white plumage and long decorative nuptial feathers during the breeding season.
Although their habits are generally similar to those of other herons, some species exhibit courtship displays that include displaying their plumage.
In English, the word egret (or aigrette) also refers to the feathers of egrets, which nest in large flocks and are defenseless, making them vulnerable to indiscriminate hunting by humans.
Fortunately, strict conservation measures have been taken, leading to an increase in the number of egrets.
These wading birds frequent marshes, lakes, moist forests, and other wetland environments to feed on small fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and crustaceans in shallow water.
