Egrets’ annual flight to seek a warmer climate

  JOHOR BARU: While cars are clogging up the expressways for the holidays, up in the sky, the graceful herons are also making their way “home” south to seek warmer climate come winter. 

The herons or egrets would journey from their northern homes in Siberia and Japan to the southern part of the globe, including Malaysia, to escape the biting cold winter. 

State Wildlife Protection and National Parks (Perhilitan) deputy director Ismail Mamat said the white-feathered birds started migrating in October in search of a warmer refuge. 

“Their journey home would begin around March or April, and they would fly back north when the winter ends over there,” he said in an interview. 

There are many species of egrets, with the common ones being the little egret, great egret and cattle egret. 

Ismail said the large birds would travel together as a big family, helping each other and they would often return to the same location they had chosen the previous year. 

Egrets usually forage in marshlands and feed on fish, aquatic invertebrates and reptiles. They wait for their prey by sitting or standing statue-like in the shallow waters.  

He said swallows would also be making their annual migration to the southern region and they could easily be sighted in many places in Kota Tinggi and Segamat.

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