Black-necked Stilt

This morning the refuge had Little Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Black-crowned Night-Herons, Tricolored Herons and Black-necked Stilts.

Little Egret is an Old World counterpart to the Snowy Egret. One in California should be reported to the CA birding community immediately; multiple Little Egrets would be an ornithological event without precedence. I hope you have photos to document this incredibly rare event.

Terry Sohl has a map showing occurance of Little Egret in North America.

Hi
Richard I thought this Egret was a little big for a Snowy Egret.

Peter

Hi
Richard, where as this is more in line with what a see as a Snowy Egret.

Peter

Little Egret is an Old World species and a mega rarity anywhere in the United States. To the best of my knowledge it has never ben seen on the west coast - the only verified sightings are scattered along the northeast coast and down into the Mid-Atlantic states. When one is discovered anywhere in an area it is a magnet for birders from everywhere else.

Separation of Little Egret from Snowy Egret is a difficult field problem and is best done at breeding season when the Little Egret shows two plumes.

A good on-line guide to separating the two closely related species is Sibley.

Sibley starts his guide with this:

To find a Little Egret among Snowy Egrets:

Look for long dangling head plumes (which all adult Little Egrets have, except when molting in fall, and all Snowy Egrets lack, except for a few rare individuals that may be hybrids).

Look for dark gray lores which will make the bill seem even longer; but not all Little Egrets have gray lores, so you will be likely to miss a few if you a just looking at lore color, and some very young Snowy Egrets have dark gray lores, so you will have a few false alarms.

Seeing one or even both of those things is not enough to claim a record of Little Egret. You must have long and clear views. You should determine the age of the bird, check for some subtle supporting clues, and rule out several other rare possibilities.

I've been an active birder in the U.S. for over 40 years and I've never sen a Little Egret. 20+ of those years were in New Jersey.

Hi Peter,

A good bird guide book can help an awful lot with bird ID. Rich and Jim DeWitt wrote a wonderful article where they reviewed some of the bird guides, you can find it here: http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles1009/jd1009-1.html