The current discussion on the Little Egret is one of the best I've seen on
Birdline and has got me looking through old notes and photographs.
It appears over the years I've seen birds with soles of their feet ranging
from dark grey(black) to yellow. A recent photograph I took at Urunga, NSW
of a breeding bird had yellow soles whilst the month before in South
Australia the couple of birds (non-breeding) I saw in flight had dark
coloured soles (dark grey or black). Frith states that when breeding soles
are yellow and non-breeding black. I would assume that during the period
from non-breeding to breeding, the soles would change colour, so you expect
a variance in colour of the soles of the feet.
Where it gets really interesting is when you start reading a few reference
books, they start talking about yellow (grazetta) feet or yellow toes
(McKilligan, McKinnon) , whilst nigripes has black feet and yellowish soles.
I've near seen a bird with yellow toes, so I believe the subspecies I see in
my journeys to date has been E. garzetta nigripes.
It appears in reading Christidis and Boles that a lot of work still needs to
done on this group.
Keep the discussion going its good.
Neville
-----Original Message-----
From: Mick Roderick
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2012 1:34 PM
To: Niven ; Birding Aus
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Nominate Little Egret at WTP on Birdline
I can't say I have.
To make things even more interesting this is what the IUCN Heron Specialist
Group have to say about Little Egrets:
Nigripes is white. It is similar to garzettaexcept its feet are black not
yellow although occasionally having yellow soles. Nonbreeding lores are blue
grey becoming red in courtship. The irises become red, but the feet remain
black.
Immaculataalso is white. Nonbreeding lores are yellow, an important
distinction from garzetta. Legs and feet are black, with yellow soles. In
courtship, the irises turn red, as do the lores before reverting to yellow.
The feet remain black although the soles can turn red.
So, to add to Niven's question - has anyone seen soles go red on 'Aussie'
Little Egrets? (you'd have to be lucky I guess, witnessing courtship)
I will forward a query to Max Maddock; a Hunter local who has studied and
published on breeding Little Egrets.
We haven't even brought into this how Western Reef Egret (gularis) is
considered a sub-species of Little Egret (garzetta) by some authors, which
could have relevance to 'Australian' birds with regards to the "piebald"
egrets that occur on the Cocos Islands - a heron-fanatic's paradise!
Mick
________________________________
From: Niven <>
To: Birding Aus <>
Sent: Tuesday, 16 October 2012 1:02 PM
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Nominate Little Egret at WTP on Birdline
I haven't looked up any apparent differences between the immaculata and
nigripes races. But on the sole colour, has anyone actually seen a breeding
plumaged Little Egret with clearly yellowish soles?
On 16 October 2012 11:40, Mike Carter <> wrote:
HANZAB reminds us that formerly there were two subspecies of Little Egret
in A'asia, nigripes and immaculata. Some of us would prefer that situation
restored as there are differences between populations, which may include
feet colour.
Mike Carter
30 Canadian Bay Road
Mount Eliza VIC 3930
Tel (03) 9787 7136
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