A large fish-eating wading bird with long legs, a long S-shaped neck, and a long pointed bill.
Family Ardeidae (the heron family): several genera and numerous species, e.g. the Old World grey heron (Ardea cinerea). The heron family also includes the bitterns and egrets.
The Cattle Egret is a small heron, usually found near grazing mammals....
Unlike most herons, the Green Heron does not typically nest in large colonies.
It was one of the trees that often allowed a heron or egret a perch during the summer, but they were all gone now.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French, of Germanic origin.