Similarly the bird reported at Parry's Lagoon (WA) by Rob Gully on the 16th
June (Birdline report #85684) was reported to be larger than a Pied Heron
and was initially thought to be a White-faced Heron. However the leg
colouring did not match that of the White-faced Heron and matched that of a
Pied Heron, so it was report was modified on Birdline to reflect a juvenile
Pied Heron. As the photo of the bird at Parry's Lagoon and the one taken at
Coombabah Swamp are very similar, the Birdline report has now been updated
to reflect a dark morph Little Egret.
Regards,
Bruce Wedderburn
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Mike Carter
Sent: Monday, 22 August 2011 10:34 AM
To: BIRDING-AUS
Subject: Fw: Identifying Little Egrets - some visual aids
Good point Judith, but as I haven't actually seen the bird and as the
observer hasn't said much about it's behaviour I can't help in that regard.
But another aspect not revealed in photos is size and the observer, Tony
Bailey, has reported on that. He says that it was identical in size and
shape to an accompanying typical Little Egret also photographed. Using
lengths given in HANZAB and the popular field guides Pied Heron is on
average 20% shorter than Little Egret so just on size it isn't a Pied Heron.
Mike Carter
30 Canadian Bay Road
Mount Eliza VIC 3930
Tel (03) 9787 7136
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