Scientific name: Ardea alba.
Description: Growing to 40 inches long with a 57-inch wingspan, the white-feathered birds with yellow-orange daggerlike bills, yellow eyes and black legs stalk prey with neck extended. During breeding season, long plumes grow from their backs.
Found: Nesting in trees up to 100 feet off the ground; stalking small fish, amphibians and invertebrates in the shallows; living in colonies with other birds. Seen here in the Lac Qui Parle Wildlife Management Area, where pelicans, cormorants and gulls also congregate during nesting season. They'll also show up in flooded fields.
Nests: Made of sticks, the platform is started by the male and sometimes finished with help from the female. Nests can measure 3 feet across; they generally don't reuse the nest the next year. Both males and females incubate one to six pale blue eggs.