egret

/ˈigrɪt/

/ˈigrɪt/

Other forms: egrets

An egret is a white bird with long legs, usually found wading along marshy shorelines. Egrets are expert fishers and sometimes even use sticks and insects to draw fish closer before gobbling them up.

Egret comes from the French aigrette, which means "silver heron" and also "brush," which describes the plumes of white feathers that appear on an egret's back during the breeding season. These birds, many of which are bright white, are a type of heron. They hunt for fish in both freshwater and saltwater, wading through the shallows on their long legs.

Definitions of egret

1. noun

   any of various usually white herons having long plumes during breeding season
   types:

   Egretta thula, snowy egret, snowy heron

   small New World egret

   Egretta garzetta, little egret

   Old World egret

   Casmerodius albus, great white heron

   widely distributed Old World white egret

   American egret, Egretta albus, great white heron

   a common egret of the genus Egretta found in America; it is a variety of the Old World white egret Casmerodius albus

   Bubulcus ibis, cattle egret

   small white egret widely distributed in warm regions often found around grazing animals

   type of:

   heron

   grey or white wading bird with long neck and long legs and (usually) long bill