Kenya, January 2025 - Egrets (1 Viewer)

[JayFeatherPL]

Hello!
Could you please confirm these egrets' ID?
Amboseli NP, Lake Nakuru NP, Lake Naivasha
1-2. Great Egret (Ardea alba)? Is the gape line long enough for it to be Great Egret?
3. Yellow-billed Egret (Ardea brachyrhyncha)?
4. Yellow-billed?
5-6. Yellow-billed?

 

[njlarsen]

What time of year? much of the year, YbEg should have dark legs, and I see yellow on most of 3-6.
So do you actually have YbEg in 1 and 2 and cattle egret for the rest?
Niels

 

[JayFeatherPL]

What time of year? much of the year, YbEg should have dark legs, and I see yellow on most of 3-6.
So do you actually have YbEg in 1 and 2 and cattle egret for the rest?
Niels

Initially, I also thought that 1-2 are Yellow-billed (bc of the short gape line) but people kept identifying it as Great Egret and now I can see the gape line looks shorting because of the perspective (or not?). Plus, the very long neck, supporting Great. But the tibias are dark. Shouldn't they be yellowish in Great? Was my first thought (Yellow-billed) right?

Regarding 3-6, Yellow-billed Egrets show yellowish legs in breeding season. The photos were taken in (the end of) January. Is it too early? And what about the bill & neck length? Aren't they too long for Cattle?

To be honest, I'm totally lost right now, because everyone identifies these egrets in a different way...

 

[THE_FERN]

Fwiw I think you were right the first time. I can't see cattle egrets here (necks too long, neck base too shaggy, not pronounced enough gular area). Yellow-billed legs are black in breeding but may be yellowish otherwise. Although gape on great doesn't seem to extend past the eye, it's not a great image and it must surely be great with a neck that long

 

[njlarsen]

Most of the year, Yellow-billed has dark legs and black feet. Birds of the world and some of my field guides state partial yellow legs are possible in breeding but dark the rest of the year.

Especially 3 and 4 looks just like the Cattle egrets we have here (where any of the intermediate daughter species are not found).
Niels

 

[stevethehydra]

I have no "live" experience of Yellow-billed/Intermediate Egret, but:

Cattle Egret and Hamerkop are around the same size. I know there is a size illusion on zoomed and cropped photos, but usually it makes the further away bird look comparatively bigger, not the nearer bird. So I don't think 3 can be a Cattle Egret just on size, and like 5 and 6, the wings look proportionately big for Cattle too - so the only one that IMO could be a Cattle is 4 (which is also the only one with clearly yellow legs - I can half-convince myself I see a short bit of yellow upper leg in 6, but it could easily be an illusion caused by the vegetation, and I'm more sure I can see a dark lower leg and foot).

Also the gape line is hard to assess in 1 and 2 due to foreshortening, but that is an extremely long and thin neck for anything other than a Great Egret! So, my guess would be:

1-2 Great Egret
3 Yellow-billed Egret and Hamerkop
4 Cattle Egret
5-6 Yellow-billed Egret

 

[njlarsen]

My argument against GrEg for 1 and 2 (which may be wrong) is that it is not only a question of length but also a question of how down-turned the rear of the gape is. It seems very straight, while the examples I looked at for GrEg were significantly down-turned.
Niels

 

[MacNara]

I think Jay's original idea is correct.

The first two must be Great simply on neck length.

None of the others look like Cattle Egret to me for various reasons. Three is Yellow-billed just on bill shape and jizz. The other three (five and six are the same bird; four might be also) have both breast plumes and back plumes which eliminates Cattle.

In my opinion, anyway.

 

[THE_FERN]

I note that the yellow-billed egret bills are quite orangey, approaching breeding colour intensity and not non-breeding which is dull yellow. That would explain leg colour. Macauley images of non-breeders show it's mostly the tibia that can be yellowish rather than the whole leg

 

[Jos Stratford]

On general structure and bill, I would also say Great for 1-2, Yellow-billed for the rest.

 

[JayFeatherPL]

Thank you very much for the answers!