Great Egrets Wading by the Coast in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget
On the last three outings I have made to Pebble Beach, California during April and May 2026, my husband Laurent and I have seen Great Egrets wading in tide pools by the coast and flying low and strong around the golf courses at Pebble Beach.
Great Egrets are part of the heron family. They have orange, long, dagger-like beaks for spearing fish, frogs, rabbits, and other small shoreline animals for food.
Their economic value comes from eating rodents like rats and mice in oceanfront, high-property value areas and from their eco-tourism sightseeing interest. Bird watchers are tourists who might come to Pebble Beach just to see them.
Great Egrets have long necks that they crunch up into S-curves. The neck and body of a Great Egret is white while their long legs are black.
Great Egrets can be seen in larger numbers a little farther north of Pebble Beach in Moss Landing by Elkhorn Slough. They can also be seen wading in the Salinas River along Highway 68 when the Salinas River is low.
Great Egrets are found on all continents except Antarctica. They were an endangered species at one time, but conservation efforts early in the 20th century restored populations.
More information about Great Egrets, photos, and bird calls follows:
https://www.sacramentoaudubon.org/kids-corner/meet-the-great-egret
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games
