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Priorities for Future Research
From conservation and management perspective, continued efforts need to be made to monitor population numbers by determining locations and sizes of breeding colonies and associated foraging areas. Reddish Egrets are habitat specialists that breed and forage along a narrow coastal habitat; habitat loss and disturbance by humans are major factors affecting population numbers of this species. Ecological interrelationships of Reddish Egrets with other herons and egrets need study.
Only a general understanding exists of this species’ behavior and ecology. There is little information on growth and development of young; nothing is known of any intra-nest competition that may exist among siblings. While little is known of young in the nest, less is known of development, behavior, and travels of young after they leave the nest for the subsequent 2 or 3 years before they first breed. Annual survivorship for different age or sex classes is unknown. Comparison of the two color morphs in fitness components would be an interesting addition to studies of breeding biology.
Lowther, Peter E. and Richard T. Paul. 2002. Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/633
