Little Egret

Small snow-white heron with slender dark bill, blackish legs, and yellowish feet ("golden slippers"). Breeding adult has 2 long wispy head plumes and a spray of white plumes ("aigrettes") on the lower back. Inhabits a wide variety of wetlands: lakes, rivers, marshes, estuaries—almost anywhere with small fish. Occurs as singles or small loose groups; nests and roosts communally. Distinctive within its range, but compare with larger Great and Intermediate Egrets, stockier Cattle Egret, and white morph reef herons.

Little egrets in Sri Lanka can be found in fresh water jheels, ponds, rivers, and tanks. They can also be found in tidal creeks.

In Sri Lanka, a Little Egret's diet primarily consists of small fish, amphibians like frogs and tadpoles, crustaceans, insects, mollusks, and occasionally small reptiles, depending on the availability of prey in the wetland habitats they frequent; they are highly opportunistic feeders, taking advantage of what is most readily available in their environment.