flock of 9 large egrets at Lake Ellesmere

[andrewcrossland]

mate, send that photo to the newspaper or enter a competition - its a fantastic shot! Like 2 19th Century army officers duelling at dawn with their seconds looking on - 1 on each side! fantastic!

[David Hallett]

I was driving past Lake Forsyth today looking out for the little egret, thought I saw it, stopped the car got my camera out and had a good look through the long lens. It was not a little egret and nowhere near big enough for a white heron, was able to observe it for 15 min, I believe it is an Intermediate egret. Check 3 pictures posted sorry no other bird in in frame to compare size.

[David Hallett]

I have enlarged a photo to give clearer view of gape and colour of bill and gape also feathered lower bill

[Jan]

The rounded head looks a good indicator for Intermediate Egret. Not sure about gape line though.

[Oscar Thomas]

Reigniting this topic as it has better photos of the flock that Andrew shared in the latest Intermediate egret post. And also because the final bird shared by David actually does look like a good candidate for Intermediate Egret, but the discussion didn't really go anywhere - Here are some fun comparison shots to show the two species you're dealing with together. The gape length seems to variable, but always going beyond the eye in White herons (and coming close in some Intermediate egrets):
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/50767111
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/48687841
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/79268751

[andrewcrossland]

Our conclusion from further observations was that the small birds in the original flock of 9 were all white Herons, but they weren't the only white-coloured egrets around lake Ellesmere that year. There were Cattle Egrets and two Little Egrets also. CHCH Press photographer David Hallett's photos (above) are certainly very interesting but I'm not sure if he ever submitted a UBR for this bird? He sadly passed away in 2016.

[andrewcrossland]

Here's some better pics of the original 9 bird flock - easier to confirm they were all just white herons..........

egret15.jpg (179.36 KiB) Viewed 553 times

egret8.jpg (562.65 KiB) Viewed 553 times