English: Great Egret, Great White Egret
Russian: Большая белая цапля
German: Silberreiher
French: Grande aigrette
Mongolian: Цасч дэглээ
Japanese: ダイサギ (Dai-sagi)

Body length: 85-100 cm
Wing span: 145-170 cm

Passage migrant
Breeding season: May-August

Egg number: 3-4(occasionally 5-6)
Egg color: Non-glossy, pale blue.
Brood: 1 per year

Global status: Least concern
Regional status: Least Concern

Habitat: Breeds in colonies at large, shallow swampy lakes, preferably in reeds with some low bushes and trees. Partial migrant, winters in Mediterranean region or Africa. Rare but annual vagrant in Britain. Feeds (on fish, aquatic insects) in flood meadows and along rivers, but also in somewhat drier terrain. 

Identification: A very big all-white heron. Almost the size of Grey Heron but a shade more elegant, with longer legs and neck. Needs to be told primarily Little Egret and white-morph Reef Egret. (Cattle Egret also white, but is smaller and podgier and often has distinct ochre elements in plumage, so hardly confusable.) Differs from Little Egret in: slower, more dignified wingbeats; proportionately longer legs, which project a very long way past tail in flight; yellowish tibia (‘thigh’) and in part tarsus; yellowish bill except in breeding season; lacks nape plumes; larger size. Told from white-morph Reef Egret by e.g. larger size, longer legs, plus straight dagger-shaped bill.

Food: Small mammals, frogs, fishes and aquatic invertebrates.