Great Egret                                                                                          Ardea alba                                                                                                                                                              habitat: ranges from Oregon, Wisconsin and Massachusetts south to Florida. The Gulf of Mexico and most of South America.

domain: Eukarya
kingdom: Animalia
phylum: Chordata
class: Aves
order: Ciconiformes
family: Ardeidate
genus: Ardea
species: alba


The Great Egret has bilateral symmetry. It is white with black legs and a yellow beak. Three functional adaptations it has are its long legs for wading in the water and its sharp bill for grasping prey. Another one is its neck has a modified vertebrae that makes an "S" shape that gives the bird an easy stabbing motion. An interesting fact is that occasionally they swim to capture prey or hover over the water and dip for fish. Their prey are frogs, snakes, crayfish, fish, mice, crickets, and grasshoppers. Their predators are mostly alligators. Great Egrets are heterotrophic and endothermic.