Chinese Egret

Overview
Chinese Egret: Population is seriously declining due to competition for living space with humans and other egrets. White overall with shaggy crest, blue-green lores, orange-yellow bill, and black legs with yellow feet. Has been seen feeding on mudflats and tidal flats with other egrets and herons.

Range and Habitat
Chinese Egret: Breeds in Russia, North Korea, South Korea and mainland China. It is also a non-breeding visitor to Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Peninsular and eastern Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei. Has been seen in North America only in the western Aleutian Islands.

The Chinese Egret is rated as Vulnerable at this current time. The population of the Chinese Egret has been declining in the last few years, primarily due to loss of habitat. This bird breeds in North and South Korea, Russia and mainland China. Currently, the population of this bird is estimated at no more than 3,500 birds. During the last ten years, there has not been any noticeable decline in population of the Chinese Egret, but the rating remains at Vulnerable.

INTERESTING FACTS
By the end of the 19th century, it had almost been extirpated by trade in its plumes and persecution. The biggest threat to the Chinese Egret is habitat loss. The current population is estmated at between 2,600 and 3,400 birds. The rapid decline of a colony at Shin-do, South Korea, in the early 1990s, was apparently a result of disturbance by photographers. A group of egrets has many collective nouns, including a "congregation", "heronry", "RSVP", "skewer", and "wedge" of egrets.