Feeding The diet includes vertebrates such as
fish,
frogs, small
reptiles, small
birds and
rodents, and invertebrates such as
insects,
crustaceans, and
molluscs. The eastern great egret hunts by wading or standing still in shallow water and "spearing" prey with its bill.
Breeding The eastern great egret often breeds in colonies with other herons, egrets,
cormorants,
spoonbills and
ibises. One brood is raised a year, although the breeding season varies within Australia. In the north of the country it is in March to May, in southern and central Queensland December and January, and October to December in the south. Located atop trees at a height of or more, the nest is a flat wide platform of dry branches and sticks with a shallow basin for eggs and young. The clutch consists of anywhere from two to six pale blue-green eggs, with three or four being the usual number. They are oval in shape and measure . ==Status==