G'day Niven,
I would say the birds in SE Australia present with all of the variation as
you have described for NT.
It's not uncommon to see birds with extensive pale lime tinted yellow
running right up the inside of the leg, it is most obvious on the inside of
the tibia and runs down the tarsus tapering to a point typically running out
before it reaches the foot. I even have photos of a bird in plumes showing
this, I am assuming it is a post breeder, but these yellow legs are normally
associated with absence of plumes.
And as you describe when the legs and feet are extensively black the soles
are so dull that the tonal difference is almost impossible to see.
Asian birds on the other hand have a richer yellow and it is as you
describe, as if the bird has stepped into paint.
Cheers Jeff.
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Niven
Sent: Monday, 15 October 2012 3:37 PM
To: Paul G Dodd
Cc: Birding Aus
Subject: Nominate Little Egret at WTP on Birdline
Little Egrets are quite interesting, so definitely worth discussion. I have
a photo of a nominate bird from the Leanyer Sewage Ponds on my ntbirds
website:
http://ntbirds.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=search&cat=0&pos=3
Generally, they have similar feet in all stages, breeding, non-breeding,
though the contrast is less in immatures and non-breeding as the legs are
less black and the feet a little less yellow. The facial skin is always
bluer/greener than on our local birds but generally this too is duller in
non-breeding, just like the yellow/pink on our birds is less intense in
non-breeding.
Of more interest to me at the moment is foot colour of the local race. It
seems that the soles of the feet in breeding birds in the top end are either
entirely black or have so little yellow as to make it impossible to see even
with good views. Any comments on that - is it the same with southern birds?
Or is it just one of those very variable things, and I just never get to see
the ones with yellow soles. In non-breeding the soles are yellowish,
sometimes almost the whole foot is yellowish or at least pale, with
yellow-pale often running extensively up the back of the leg, sometimes
quite sharply in contrast with the rest of the leg colour.
Niven
On 15 October 2012 13:35, Paul G Dodd <> wrote:
> Hi Mick,
>
> Always good to open a can of worms :)
>
> Interestingly, there were three other Little Egrets in the same pond
> with completely black legs and feet. Through bins the feet appeared
> much yellower, so I was surprised when I looked at the pictures on my
> computer - especially since I was expecting the "walked through a can of
paint" look.
>
> I spent hours looking through my Asian field guides, and they were all
> suitably vague about how much yellow the feet should have. Pizzey and
> Knight refers to the sole of the immaculata/nigripes race being yellow
> - but a very difficult field mark. This bird certainly has yellow feet
> and a yellow tinge to the legs.
>
> I'll be interested to hear other opinions too.
>
> Paul Dodd
> Docklands, Victoria
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On 15/10/2012, at 1:51 PM, Mick Roderick <> wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > Well, we haven't a decent Little Egret discussion for a while, so
> > why
> not open the can of worms?
> >
> > I am not so sure that the "nominate" Little Egret posted by Paul and
> Ruth from WTP yesterday is such. I have seen nigripes/immaculata
> Little Egrets look very much like this bird. There was a lengthy
> discussion on this topic back in March 2008 after I saw a similar bird
> in Sydney. If you dare, see the beginning of that thread at
> http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/birding-aus/2008-03/
> msg00456.htmlwhich includes some images of that bird and comments from
> many people. Note that I never claimed that bird as a potential
> nominate bird (I discounted that notion as I mentioned on the email) - I
was just eager for comment on 'Aussie' Little Egrets with yellow-tinged feet
and legs.
> >
> > Others expressed that they had seen nigripes/immaculata with legs
> > and
> feet like the Sydney bird (and like the Birdline bird from yesterday).
> There are apparently also differences in the gape (per Mike Carter's
> comments on the 2005 Fogg Dam bird) but this isn't visible in the
> Birdline image.
> >
> > I would expect a nominate bird to have completely yellow feet, like
> > (and
> borrowing an analogy here) it had walked through 2cm of yellow paint.
> >
> > What do others think?
> >
> > Mick
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