Sharing the range - the great Egret

By Alexis Kirk, age 13

Great egrets are majestic birds that live alongside wild horses on the Virginia Range. Great egrets are one of six different types of herons that roam Nevada. These birds are tall and large in size with completely white feathers. They have long, sharp, yellow bills and long necks and legs. The noises they make are interesting. Their croaks sound like a lower version of a frog’s croak. When with their colony, all of their croaks combined are very loud. When nesting or looking for a mate, males can make duck-like squawks to call females over to watch their courting dance.

Great egrets reside in ponds, wetlands, marshes, or slow-moving, shallow-water areas. They nest in trees or thickets near a body of water. They forage by standing or wading in shallow water, waiting for a fish, their favorite food, to come near. The egret snatches up the fish with its long, sharp bill. They may also forage in open fields or steal food from other, smaller birds. Egrets enjoy snacking on frogs, salamanders, aquatic insects, or small snakes.

When it comes to the time of maturity, the male great egret chooses a nesting spot and courts a female for a potential mate. A female egret has 1-6 eggs. Both parents incubate the eggs and feed the young, taking turns caring for them.

In the 1800s, great egrets were hunted for their plume and their populations decreased rapidly. Their species was almost completely wiped out in the name of fashion, but conservationists put an end to the slaughtering and protected their habitats, allowing the birds to recover throughout the 20th century.

Horse facts: Guard Hairs

By Deborah Walker

Did you know? As an important aspect of the horse’s winter coat, guard hairs help keep the undercoat clean, hold moisture, and sluff rain so that the elements do not get to the fluffy undercoat. This is important since the undercoat acts as insulation and traps the warm body heat between the skin and the air and weather.

These long hairs, guard hairs, are attached to a layer of muscle that actually moves the longer hair as needed for insulation. Each of these hairs can lay down and stand up, making the horse look chubby, or move in a particular direction to keep cold winds at bay.

As an additional protection against cold temperatures, the nasal passages are equipped with bone spirals and an air pouch that warms the air as it travels up the long nasal passages before reaching the lungs. As mentioned in November’s article (second article on the linked page) about hooves and legs, wild horses are able to withstand extreme cold temperatures without problems or damage while standing in snow. The legs are made up of mostly bone and tendons and require less blood than muscles, making them less susceptible to frostbite. If the hooves do get cold, shunts open, sending blood to the area to warm the feet.

The wild horse is really created perfectly to adapt to their environment!

Photos by Deborah Sutherland, Ellen Albiter, and Matthew Bailey