Snowy  Egret
Egretta thula
By: Hastings Witt

    The snowy egret is most commonly found in the coast, inland wetlands, midlands, estuaries, and sometimes in beaches and in rivers and lakes. The domain is eukaryote and the kingdom is animalia. The phylum is chordata and the class is aves. The order is ciconiiformes and the family is aretunidae. The genus is Egretta and the species is thula. If you divide this organism into two sides those sides will be mirror images of each other, this means that this organism has bilateral symmetry. You can identify this egret species by its long black legs and bright yellow feet. Also this bird has a 2ft wingspan, gorgeous white feathers, and a dark black beak. Some adaptations that this organism possesses are that its long toes help it step through deep muddy water, this is a structural adaptation because the toes are a part of the organism. Another structural adaptation that  this organism has is a long beak to grab fish out of the water. One more adaptation of this organism is that it lifts its long wings up and the shade of the wings attracts fish, its prey. In the 1800’s this organism was endangered because people killed it for its plumes. Thankfully this specimen is no longer endangered. This organism eats fish, shrimp, minnows, crustaceans, and frogs. Its predators are raccoons, hawks, poisonous snakes, hawks, and owls. This organism is heterotrophic which means that it eats producers or other autotrophs. Also this organism is endothermic also known as warm blooded. I really want to learn more about marine life and the snowy egret!