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Garden Egret (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter RichardBaatsen
- Start date
Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
Cattle for me on thickness of neck and bill structure.
dwatsonbirder
Well-known member
Hi Richard, although the feathering is extending well down the lower mandible, and the neck looks thick, I think this is a Little egret - grey/green lores, and ratio of bill length to width of head.
Steve Lister
Senior Birder, ex County Recorder, Garden Moths.
Juv Little Egret for me. Mainly on the bill.
Steve
Steve
Bismarck Honeyeater
Barely known member
Definitely Little. They bed on my old patch, and that’s what they look like
Birdbrain22
Well-known member
FWIW... I like Little Egret here also.
not really https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cattle_Egret/media-browser/70691061
the picture is far from perfect and the bill possibly still shorter in very young Little, without reading the other comments my choice would have been Cattle, due to the feathering going up half the mandible, now i’d say don’t know
You are right as always Tom. I looked at my 'Birds of East Asia' and I have a pencilled note (from when or why I don't remember) saying 'early juv has blackish bill', although the text of the book doesn't mention this. None of the other books I have illustrate this either, though one does say that the very young bird's bill is ash-coloured. I had completely forgotten.
I have to say that although they breed near me, I've never seen this colouring. I attach a couple of photos of what should be a post-breeding group (end of July) near my house, and no black bills visible.
Maybe Eastern (where I am) and Western are different.
Here, the sometimes-difficult-to-separate-from-Cattle-Egret species is Intermediate Egret.
I still think it's Little, but not quite as confident as I was.
Attachments
dantheman
Bah humbug
Here's a UK Cattle Egret juv from a couple of years ago (black bill) -
https://twitter.com/CBWPS1/status/894503489786851328
Hard to tell, but bill length??
https://twitter.com/CBWPS1/status/894503489786851328
Hard to tell, but bill length??
BobbitWorm45
Well-known member
Little egret for me
jurek
Well-known member
Not an expert, but Little Egret for me. Either a young with ungrown bill or a strange perspective shoot. The neck is already too curved for Cattle Egret, especially the part immediately below the head. Shows a beginning of a tuft on nape. Lacks any trace of yellow on the bill and face.
best, it would be nice to see egrets of any type in my garden.
best, it would be nice to see egrets of any type in my garden.
Last edited:
Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
I think the OP had it right, 'Garden Egret'.......
Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
How large is the garden? Is it little, or great? Or intermediate in size? Does it contain any cattle?I think the OP had it right, 'Garden Egret'.......
o
I'm not offering an opinion on the identification, but for what it's worth Birds of the Western Palearctic says of Cattle Egret:
"Bill and lores at hatching pale flesh or horn (also described as green), darkening to black at 5–10 days, becoming gradually yellow during 2nd and 3rd month."
Bill
interesting stuff, thanks
