Image # 9288
Waiting For A Meal When they are only three weeks old, these young Great Egrets will leave the security of this nest. Egrets build their nests from twigs and sticks and usually nest together in colonies. The rookeries vary greatly in size and can range from less than ten nesting birds to over one thousand. In the late 19th century, egret rookeries were decimated by plume hunters who sought the egrets' beautiful breeding plumes, or aigrettes, for use in the hat trade. Egrets faced a second challenge when DDT was introduced into their environment, but their numbers have been increasing since the 1972 ban of this pesticide.
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