Great blue herons egrets and ibises depend on wetland habitat for nesting and foraging, and their populations reflect the health of wetland ecosystems they inhabit.
Wading birds that cannot find sufficient prey during breeding seasons face impossible energetic trade-offs between their own survival and chick provisioning. Breeding failures during drought or prey scarcity events cause parents to abandon chicks that then starve. Wetland restoration increases foraging habitat availability and improves breeding success for entire colonies. The individual welfare of thousands of chicks in a single season depends on sufficient wetland productivity.