The Great White Egret has become extinct in Western Europe in the 20th century, due to the heavy persecution from man. Birds were shot to collect the long white feathers – called egrets – that these birds grow during the breeding season. The feathers were used to make fashionable lady’s hats! Great White Egrets fortunately survived in the large wetlands of Eastern Europe, especially in the Danube and in the Volga deltas. Today, their populations are finally slowly recovering and they are spreading west again.

The Gialova lagoon hosts the largest Greek wintering population of these birds; some winters there have been more than 360 individuals. They feed mainly on fish, frogs and micromammals.