Sometimes green herons remodel an old egret or black-crowned night heron nest. Both parents incubate the eggs. Great Egret Egrets are herons too. The name egret comes from the long back feathers called aigrettes , which appear during breeding season. Egrets nest in rookeries.
Parents feed their nestlings about four meals a day.
Older, stronger baby egrets will kill their smaller siblings if they do not have enough food to go around. Adults will not interfere in the youngsters battles. In the early 1900s, the feather trade almost wiped out egrets in many places around the world. Most aigrettes ended up on hats. Fortunately, fashion trends changed, and people passed laws to protect the birds.