I’ll reply more fully later. It would be helpful if
Roger could send his best possible enlargements of a profile head and
bill of all birds where the ID is in question -doesn’t matter if
they’re blurry.
In the meantime here are comparisons of 4 egrets from Kellys I
posted last November. Note the sharp triangular notch under the bill of
the 3 GEs on the left.
.
From: Marnix Zwankhuizen
[
Sent: Saturday, 17 May 2008 10:40 AM
To: COG
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] help with egret
This bird looks like an
Intermediate Egret to me. It could be the same bird I saw over a month ago at
Yerrabi.
In the photos where it has it's neck stretched out fully the length of the
head/neck is still approx. the same as the length of it's body. In the Great
Egret it is usually c.1.5 times the length of it's body. Also the gape of it's
bill does not go all the way below it's eye and then beyond the end of it's eye
as mentioned in some guides.
But then I am happy to be proved wrong and haven't ever seen a juvenile Great
Egret.
Cheers
Marnix
On Fri, May 16, 2008 at 9:40 PM, Geoffrey Dabb <> wrote:
My short vision isn't what it
used to be, but all those photos seem to be of a Great Egret. I was
there a few weeks ago when 2 G Egrets were there, and one was markedly smaller
than the other. I am going by the bill, discounting the neck and
posture which depends on the attitude of the bird at the moment.
From: roger curnow [
Sent: Friday, 16 May 2008 8:43 PM
To: COG
Subject: [canberrabirds] help with egret
I have never used Flickr before, but hopefully at:
is a photo of either one or two egrets.
The photos were taken at Yerrabi pond a fortnight apart.
I thought they were all of the one bird,
and
based on the black legs, a Cattle Egret;
but following conversations with others, I begin to wonder.
Could someone who is confident in their egret classifying abilities
tell me if they are both Cattle Egrets, both Intermediate Egrets or one of
each.
If there is a simple rule available could I know that..
