Two subspecies are recognized. This is E. s. albolineata, the larger race with a darker bill endemic to New Caledonia and Loyalty Islands. This species is also known as the Pacific Reef Egret (OBC, Robson) but here I follow Clements who calls it Pacific Reef-Heron (IOC goes with Reef Heron without the hyphen). These birds occur in both a dark morph as seen here, and also a white morph which bears a resemblance to the Chinese Egret (Egretta eulophotes). Patchy intermediate morphs are also known, but I have never seen one. Here we only found this dark morph bird stalking prey along the inter-tidal rocks.