By Sally Siko

It’s spring and breeding season has begun for the Great Egrets in the Carolinas.
I spotted several pairs preening, sitting and squabbling on their nests while birding yesterday morning at the Pinckney Island NWR in SC.
The male Egrets are looking impressive with those bright white plumes sticking out and that lime green coloring on his lores.
It’s fascinating to see the change in their appearance over just a couple of weeks!

As you can see here Great Egrets are colony nesters, banding together as a group as there is strength in numbers when it comes to deterring predators.
The rookery here at Pinckney is populated by Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets, Anhingas, and a handful of Little Blue Herons.
It’s a noisy stinky spot with weird calls, gurgles and shrieks emanating from the scrubby trees filled with nesting birds.

Their nests are large, tangled messes of sticks which serve as a platform on which to incubate the eggs and raise the chicks. These flimsy structures are not exactly the works of art that other birds make, but they seem to work for the egrets lol!
Great Egret eggs are a pale greenish blue, and will be incubated by both the male and female for about 23 to 24 days. Once the chicks hatch, both parents will be kept busy feeding their young for the next 2-3 weeks until the little ones fledge.
In two years, the youngsters will be mature and may return to this spot to breed and add to the every growing cycle of life found at this rookery.

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my mighty mirrorless monster, the @canonusa #R5