It breeds colonially, often with other species of water birds, making a platform nest of sticks in a tree, bush or reed bed.

Its breeding distribution is in wetlands in warm temperate to tropical parts of Asia, Africa, Australia, and Europe.

A successful colonist, its range has gradually expanded north, with stable and self-sustaining populations now present in the United Kingdom.

The little egret was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Ardea garzetta.

Juveniles are similar to non-breeding adults but have greenish-black legs and duller yellow feet,[9] and may have a certain proportion of greyish or brownish feathers.

The eastern race, (E. g. nigripes), is resident in Indonesia and New Guinea, while E. g. immaculata inhabits Australia and New Zealand, but does not breed in the latter.

[8] During the late twentieth century, the range of the little egret expanded northwards in Europe and into the New World, where a breeding population was established on Barbados in 1994.

[10] The little egret's habitat varies widely, and includes the shores of lakes, rivers, canals, ponds, lagoons, marshes and flooded land, the bird preferring open locations to dense cover.

Nevertheless, individual birds do not tolerate others coming too close to their chosen feeding site, though this depends on the abundance of prey.

Their diet is mainly fish, but amphibians, small reptiles, mammals and birds are also eaten, as well as crustaceans, molluscs, insects, spiders and worms.

[7] The International Union for Conservation of Nature states that their wide distribution and large total population means that they are a species that cause them "least concern".

[1] Historical research has shown that the little egret was once present, and probably common, in Ireland and Great Britain, but became extinct there through a combination of over-hunting in the late medieval period and climate change at the start of the Little Ice Age.

[11] The inclusion of 1,000 egrets (among numerous other birds) in the banquet to celebrate the enthronement of George Neville as Archbishop of York at Cawood Castle in 1465 indicates the presence of a sizable population in northern England at the time, and they are also listed in the coronation feast of King Henry VI in 1429.

[12][13] They had become scarce by the mid-16th century, when William Gowreley, "yeoman purveyor to the Kinges mowthe", "had to send further south" for egrets.

[13] In 1804 Thomas Bewick commented that if it were the same bird as listed in Neville's bill of fare "No wonder this species has become nearly extinct in this country!

This allowed the population to rebound strongly; over the next few decades it became increasingly common in western France and later on the north coast.

About 22,700 pairs are thought to breed in Europe, with populations stable or increasing in Spain, France and Italy but decreasing in Greece.

It has however recently become a regular breeding species and is commonly present, often in large numbers, at favoured coastal sites.

[10] Little egrets are seen with increasing regularity over a wider area and have been observed from Suriname and Brazil in the south to Newfoundland, Quebec and Ontario in the north.