Quick identification
Great egret (Ardea alba)
A tall white heron with a long yellow bill and black legs. Its size, slow wingbeats and kinked neck separate it from smaller white egrets.
Season and local range: Regular year-round wader.
Habitat and island setting
Fresh, brackish and salt marsh, lagoon shallows and sheltered pond edges.
Where to look
The Birding and Nature Center, Laguna Madre Nature Trail, causeway flats and Port Isabel shoreline are useful starting points. Birds may move as tides, wind, fronts, water levels and activity at the site change.
What the bird is doing
Great egrets stalk slowly and may defend a productive feeding patch. Stay on established paths and keep clear of any rookery or nesting colony.
Watching birds
Use binoculars or a camera zoom, stay on public paths and leave feeding, resting and nesting birds enough room to continue normal behavior. If a bird stops feeding, stands alert, calls repeatedly or moves away because of you, increase the distance. Check access information in the South Padre Island birding guide before making a special trip.