🐦 Great Egret

A slimmer, slightly smaller version of the heron track in the same mudflats.

4.5–6 in long. Three long thin forward toes plus a rear toe. Delicate, shallow impressions. Single-file line in wet mud. Stab holes where it struck at fish.

Marshes, tidal flats, ponds, rice fields. Americas, and worldwide in warm regions.

Diurnal

Fish, frogs, crustaceans, insects

Hat-trade hunting nearly wiped egrets out — they became the symbol of the Audubon movement.