Great White Egret (1 Viewer)

[Heiton]

I am in Southern Scotland and sightings of great white egrets are very rare. The other day, I was sitting by the river - fairly restricted view - and I heard what I knew to be a swan flying upriver. I was very surprised indeed to see an unmistakable great white egret! As it's the same size and configuration as a grey heron (who I've never heard make a sound when flying) I'd be very interested to know if this 'whooshing' sound is common or, indeed, known at all. I've scoured various birding sites and haven't seen it mentioned.
Many thanks,
Heiton

 

[KC Foggin]

Hi Heiton and welcome to you
I have heard and seen flying Egrets calling out in flight. My thoughts were that it was calling out to it's mate or warning of danger.
To me, it sounded like it was gurgling.

 

[Butty]

Welcome to BF.
I take it that you're talking solely about wing-noise and not about any vocal sounds. I can't think offhand that I've heard any heron species producing loud wing-noise - certainly nothing that would remotely compare with the normal creaky whooshing wing-noise of a mute swan (some other groups of birds do do this - big hornbills, for instance). If you think that you've heard a heron making the same wing-noise as a mute swan, the first thing to consider is whether there actually was a mute swan flying nearby which you happened not to see... 🤔

 

[Heiton]

Thanks, both. I'm positive it wasn't croaking and I'm 98% sure that it wasn't a passing swan. We'd just had a swan fly past a few minutes before with that distinctive wing beat but my wife and I both commented on the sound and, of course, we were delighted with the unexpected sighting. It does seem very strange and I suppose it's possible that another swan just happened to fly behind us at the same time as the egret. It's certainly a thought.

And thanks for the welcome!

Ian

 

[delia todd]

Hi Heiton and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators. Sorry, I can't really add anything useful to this discussion, as I get few opportunities to see any egrets up here.

All things Scottish can be found here. Also, keep an eye on threads titled something like Scottish Bashes; we try to meet up occasionally and they're always great fun. You'd be most welcome to join us on another if you can manage.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.