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Great Egret question with photos!

7 years ago

Yesterday, while birding north of Sacramento, Ca, I photographed some
Great Egrets out in a field. They were at a distance so my pictures are
not as clear as I wanted. Can anyone tell me why one Egret is so huge
and one (the others) are so much smaller. What I did learn from looking
up the bird is that these two are in breeding plumage (see green around eyes). So they both must be mature, right? But I can't
find any reason for the size discrepancy. This one bird seemed so much
bigger than the others around it. Anyone know why this may be? Also, why is the bill half black?

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Comments (6)

lazy_gardens
7 years ago
Because the little bird is not a Great White heron ... it's a Snowy egret.
kathy9norcal
Original Author
7 years ago
I have not seen a Snowy with a yellow bill. How can that be? All the pictures and Snowys I have ever seen show Snowys with black bills.
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tsudhonimh
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Well, maybe it's a cattle egret. Or a dwarf Great Egret. or a great white heron

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/how-to-identify-white-herons-excerpt-from-better-birding-book/
kathy9norcal
Original Author
7 years ago
Well, in doing more research, I have learned that males are much larger than females, up to 20%. So, I am going to guess these are both Greats.

Tsudhonimh, I followed your link but could not come to the egret comparison. Thanks for trying to help me out!
lazy_gardens
7 years ago
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/how-to-identify-white-herons-excerpt-from-better-birding-book/

Try that.
kathy9norcal
Original Author
7 years ago
Great article and thanks for the link! I'm sticking with Great Egrets for now.

Now I want to go to Florida and see the Great White Egret!

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