Editing Egret (section)

==Biology==
[[File:Flying great egret 1.jpg|left|Great egret in flight|thumb]]
[[File:Egrets in AP W IMG 4220.jpg|thumb|left|Egrets at dusk in [[Kolleru Lake]], [[Andhra Pradesh]], India]]
[[File:Great Egret in Yolo bypass wildlife area.webm|thumb|left|thumbtime=7|A [[Ardea alba|great egret]] in the [[Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area]], California]]
Egrets hold a separate group with bitterns and herons within the 74 species found in the bird family Ardeidae.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://hawaiiislandkauai.com/kauai-birds/types-of-egret | title=10 Types Of Egret | date=26 November 2024 }}</ref> Many egrets are members of the [[genus|genera]] ''[[Egretta]]'' or ''[[Ardea (genus)|Ardea]]'', which also contain other species named as herons rather than egrets. The distinction between a heron and an egret is rather vague, and depends more on appearance than biology. The word "egret" comes from the French word ''aigrette'' that means both "silver heron" and "brush", referring to the long, filamentous feathers that seem to cascade down an egret's back during the breeding season (also called "egrets").

Several of the egrets have been reclassified from one genus to another in recent years; the [[great egret]], for example, has been classified as a member of either ''Casmerodius'', ''Egretta'', or ''Ardea''.

In the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries, some of the world's egret species were endangered by relentless [[plume hunting]], since hat makers in Europe and the United States demanded large numbers of egret plumes, leading to breeding birds being killed in many places around the world.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/great-egret | title=Great Egret | date=13 November 2014 }}</ref>

Several ''Egretta'' species, including the [[eastern reef egret]], the [[reddish egret]], and the [[western reef heron|western reef egret]], have two distinct colours, one of which is just white. The [[little blue heron]] has all-white juvenile plumage.