Have egrets become more common in the past few years? Has their range increased?
Ten years ago, we (meaning my wife and I) never saw egrets where we live here in Michigan. Nowadays, we see them occasionally in wetlands; not often enough that it’s totally unremarkable, but with reasonable regularity. We have moved eastward in the state, so it’s possible that being in a slightly different area is responsible for the increase in egret sightings, also.
According to the National Georgraphic * Field Guide to the Birds of North America *, 3d edition, there are no egrets that are commonly found in Lower Michigan, but they occasionally are seen there in the summer. Wisconsin and the UP, however, have great egrets in the summer, so actually the further west you are in the state the more likely you will see them.
I assume your talking about EGRET the organism.
I don’t know the time frame of when you first saw the few egrets to the present, and it would help to know what kind of Egret they are, as there are some populations increaseing and others populations decreaseing.
But I was able to dig up info on the Great Egret back form the 30s - 70s
[QUOTE]
The great egret was included on the Endangered Species List in 1977 . Historically it experienced a major decline because of plume hunting which was followed by recovery
and major expansion beginning in 1937 and then a steady decline resulting in an 80% decrease in population between 1973 & 1976 …
[QUOTE]
If thats worth anything to ya i dont know, and im not an expert in the Aquatic Birds area
-P.K.
Plenty of Egrets in eastern NC. They are the large white ones. I think they are Snowy Egrets.
I’m reasonably sure we were seeing Great Egrets, although it’s possible (since I’m going by memory) that these could be Snowy Egrets. Browsing my copy of Peterson’s Eastern Birds, the feeding behavior of the birds we saw (leaning forward) matches the Great Egret, rather than the Snowy.
My Sibley’s guide has both great and snowy egrets with Michigan solidly in their migration range. The snowy egrets are a bit smaller-- the best way to tell the difference is that the snowy ones have blusish bills while the great egret’s bill is yellow (we have lots of both kind here so I know of what I speak).
The chart found here (part of the North American Breeding Bird Survey) seems to show that since 1980 (apparently there was a large die-off in the late Seventies) the population of Great Egrets has risen at about 2.8%/year nationally.
There is no information on Michgian specifically, but Wisconsin is one of the few states that has seen a drop in population, the largest single state drop in the country apparently.
The snowy egret shows a much larger growth since 1980 at about 5.1%/year, but no specific information is given for Michigan or Wisconsin.
I find the information poorly presented and the help file to be poorly written so I may be misunderstanding this information. Any corrections welcomed.
And IIRC, the range of the cattle egret in North America has expanded dramatically in the last 50 years.
The easiest way to tell a snowy egret is by the “golden slippers.” They have golden feet with dark legs, the legs being almost the same color as the bill. If it’s a large egret, it’s probably the great egret. That’s the largest. The cattle egret has some brownish spots. It is a relative newcomer here, the last 50 years or so, after having hitchhiked from Africa.
Just to confound things a little more, the immature little blue heron is also all white and looks like an egret. However, its bill and legs are bluish. It is about the same size as the cattle egret, which is inbetween the great and snowy, but without having all of them in one view, it is hard to distinguish on size alone.
I couldn’t get any links to work at the Patuxent-Migratory Bird Research pages, but those sites are generally pretty good at giving sightings and trends.
FWIW, the birding book I’m using these days (Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Eastern Region, 1996) does indicate increasing populations for Cattle, Great, and Snowy Egrets for the central region–which would include Michigan.
Happy birding!