It came to the brink of extinction because its breeding plumes were worth more than gold to the hat trade.
From Snowy Egret
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.
From Snowy Egret
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.
From Snowy Egret
The young fledge wholly white and take on the adult's characteristic blue-grey gradually over their first year.
From Little Blue Heron
It changes colour completely as it matures: it hatches white and moults to slate blue, passing through a mottled intermediate stage that ornithologists call "calico".
From Little Blue Heron
Its resemblance as a juvenile to the snowy egret is no coincidence: they are close relatives within the genus Egretta.
From Little Blue Heron
It was hunted on a massive scale in the nineteenth century for its breeding plumes, used on hats.
From Little Egret
It became locally extinct across much of north-western Europe before recovering.
From Little Egret

Ecosystems