Coastal SC USA - Great or Snowy Egret? (1 Viewer)

T

TheNdssom

Active member

• Apr 1, 2011

• #1

I thought this was a Great Egret because of the black legs and greenish lores, but my Sibley book now shows something different than what I matched online. It didn't seem big enough to be a great egret, but I went on the coloring. Can anybody confirm which one it is so I can change the info on the picture.
Great or Snowy?

 

Last edited: Apr 1, 2011

F

fugl

Well-known member

• Apr 1, 2011

• #2

Great Egret. The Great Egret can appear quite small, particularly when seen close up.

 

Last edited: Apr 1, 2011

SueO

Well-known member

• Apr 1, 2011

• #3

Hi Nature,
Sometimes on-line the wrong bird is posted on a photo. One easy way to tell a Snowy is yellow feet, also the bill on your bird is large and lightly colored compared to a Snowy. I agree with Fugl--you have a Great Egret.

 

Last edited: Apr 1, 2011

njlarsen

Gallery Moderator

Opus Editor

Supporter

• Apr 1, 2011

• #4

Please start from the opus page: http://www.birdforum.net/opus/Welcome

There is a concerted effort to make sure that a bird shown on the opus page is correctly identified. From there, there is a search link to search for the same species in the bf gallery: again, many more correctly identified birds than present in most google searches.

Niels

 

T

TheNdssom

Active member

• Apr 1, 2011

• #5

Thank you fugl and SueO. I need to stop doubting myself

Thanks for the tip on beginning on the opus page also, njlarsen!

 

J

Jim M.

Member since 2007

Supporter

• Apr 1, 2011

• #6

Donna,

Agree with the above. The easy way to tell Great Egret from Snowy Egret is that Great has yellow bill and Snowy has a black bill (though in summer and early fall juvenile Snowy's can have a pale bluish bill with a dark tip--but not yellow). Your bird has a yellow bill, so it's obviously a Great Egret.

Best,
Jim