Ardea alba have even been known to show up in small backyard goldfish ponds. If there’s food… and they do seem readily habituated to the presence of similarly long-legged hominids.
One of the bird’s long plumes, or aigrettes. These are breeding plumage feathers; this one about 18″ long. They’re the reason these birds were nearly hunted to extinction, so these plumes could be stuck in ladies’ hats. This one was on the ground, so I kicked it into the water to dis-incentivize anyone from sticking into their hat. (Possession of such a feather would be illegal, but hardly anyone knows this.) 
Here’s another in the spartina at Bush Terminal Park.
Great Egrets nest in the smaller islands of the NYC archipelago.
PSA: How to Debate A Science Denier (from Scientific American.)
Karl and I were just watching an egret at the pond in Woodlawn. I don’t know if it was stalking the huge fish there, but did not see it catch anything.
Herons manage to swallow prey that seems outrageously too large. The internet being the internet, there’s a whole genre of youtubes detailing these wonders of nature.