I speak from the point of view of someone who can’t tell a plume from a hackle
but...........
I have taken a few photos of Little Egrets in Australia (ok, mainly SE Qld)
so..........
I don’t see anything particularly unusual about the Little Egret depicted in
the photo attached to Paul Dodd and Ruth Woodrow’s report of a Little Egret
(possibly nominate species) on the Victoria page of Eremaea’s Birdline website.
I would like to say, however, that the birding world could do well with more
such images; it may not win the ANZANG first prize in any category but,
boy/girl(!), does it say a lot! Note how this bird has crossed its legs to
adjust its balance.
Anyhow..............
A quick review of my many Little Egret Images tells me that this particular
bird is pretty close to ‘average’ compared with the Little Egrets I have
photographed over the past few years.
Note that I am talking about the Little Egrets normally found in Australia. On
that point, I am curious about why it has been decided that the Little Egrets
‘normally found in Australia’ should be labelled “ssp nigripes” rather than
“ssp immaculata” (that sounds a bit religious to me, although, they are
beautiful and usually so neat). But that’s another argument.
Briefly, my experience has been that Little Egrets ‘normally found in
Australia’ (including adult breeding but more on that later), in general, have
‘light coloured’ soles to their feet with dark uppers. Incidentally, it might
turn out to be a minor diagnostic feature but I am working on that.
The colour most people seem to use in their description of the soles is
“yellow” but I see something different: I see greenish-yellow. I chose my
parents so that I would have very good colour perception. You don’t have to
believe that but I will pray for you.
Seriously..........
Niven McCrie made a good point when he said:
“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.”
Back to me............
My photos seem to show that the degree of yellow/greenish-yellow on the soles
of the feet may vary from breeding to non-breeding with breeding having almost
(note) completely black feet, soles and uppers. My photos show that, in
breeding stage, the soles are sometimes so dark that it can be hard to see the
very faint hint of a lighter colour.
In non-breeding stage the amount and extent of yellow (for want of a better
description) can vary considerably. On some birds the light colour is obviously
confined to the very soles but on other birds the feet are are almost
completely light coloured (I nearly wrote “yellow”).
Whether this variation in the degree and extent of light colour is dependant
on the age of the particular bird is difficult to ascertain as it is also
difficult to ascertain the age of ‘young’ egrets. And that’s another “another
argument”.
So far I have only provided words but I am working on visual evidence to back
up my statements and I ask that you all be generous with your patience; I hope
to have some images on my website soon to show just what I am talkin’ about.
This is such a good topic!
Bob Inglis
Sandstone Point
Qld
Australia
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