Another reason for lower dietary overlap with other wading birds is that great egrets are capable of adjusting their diets based on changing environmental conditions. When the amount of preferred prey in a habitat is decreased, great egrets alter their diets to include other prey species. This finding suggests that the goal of most wading birds may not be to maximize feeding efficiency, but rather, to capture and ingest more high quality prey items. Mosquitofish were the primary prey items offered to nestlings, followed by crayfish, sailfin mollies, bluegills, and shad. Other large wading birds such as the great blue heron utilize similar habitats and food resources, but probable resource partitioning among species minimizes direct competition.
Great egrets are sympatric with other species of wading birds.
Recession of water in spring concentrates prey in a smaller area, helping to increase nest success , and the later foraging success of fledglings. With the large numbers of wading birds nesting in this area, the authors suggest it could be most beneficial to bird populations for wetland managers to consider keeping lake levels low in the late winter or early spring months of the nesting season.