Snowy Egret

• GeneralIt came to the brink of extinction because its breeding plumes were worth more than gold to the hat trade.
• It hunts by stirring the bottom with its yellow feet to flush out prey, a technique known as foot stirring that has earned it the nickname of golden slippers.
• Mass hunting to sell its ornamental plumes to the millinery trade in the late 19th century almost wiped it out; its recovery lies at the origin of the American conservation movement.
• It is today protected in the United States by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat & environment

Saltmarsh, mangroves, rice fields and estuaries

Sexual maturity

12 months

Gestation / incubation

22-25 days, with both parents incubating

Litter / clutch size

3-6 pale blue-green eggs. The nest, woven from twigs by the female, may be on the ground or up to 9 m high, and she sometimes reuses old nests or steals material from her neighbours

Sources consulted: IUCN Red List; Animal Diversity Web (Universidad de Michigan); Birds of the World (Cornell Lab); Audubon; National Wildlife Foundation

Best time: All year round in South America; in North America it breeds between March and July