Plumed Egret

1. Long ornamental plumes on back and breast during breeding.

2. Seasonal bill colour change: yellow-orange (non-breeding) to red with yellow tip (breeding).

3. Slender white body with dark legs year-round.

These egrets are skilled hunters, feeding primarily on fish, frogs, and aquatic insects. They use techniques such as standing motionless or stirring water with their feet to catch prey efficiently. Breeding occurs in colonies near water after heavy rains replenish wetlands. Nests are built from sticks in trees, with both sexes sharing incubation duties.

Plumed Egrets are found across northern and eastern Australia, favouring freshwater wetlands with dense vegetation. They frequent billabongs, floodplains, swamps, and wet meadows, often hunting at the edges of wetlands where vegetation meets open water. They are most active at dawn and dusk and are known to gather in large groups during dry periods at permanent waterholes.