Snowy Egret Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  These are medium-sized herons with long, thin legs and long, slender, bills. Their long, thin neck sets the small head well away from the body.

  Relative Size

  Smaller than a Great Egret; larger than a Cattle Egret.

  between crow and goose

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 22.1-26.0 in (56-66 cm)
    • Weight: 13.1 oz (370 g)
    • Wingspan: 39.4 in (100 cm)

  © Evan Lipton / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Adult Snowy Egrets are all white with a black bill, black legs, and yellow feet. They have a patch of yellow skin at the base of the bill. Immature Snowy Egrets have duller, greenish legs.

• Behavior

  Snowy Egrets wade in shallow water to spear fish and other small aquatic animals. While they may employ a sit-and-wait technique to capture their food, sometimes they are much more animated, running back and forth through the water with their wings spread, chasing their prey.
• Habitat

  They are most common along the coast, though they do breed patchily in inland wetlands. Snowy Egrets nest colonially, usually on protected islands, and often with other small herons. They concentrate on mudflats, beaches, and wetlands, but also forage in wet agricultural fields and along the edges of rivers and lakes.