Hi Don,

Lots of good research but your conclusion does not make a lot of sense to me as it does not take into account the ultramarine lores that match Great Blue Heron (actually they match the color of white morph GBH perfectly.

Interesting stuff about white morph REEGs being more likely to stand and wait but I can assure you that the white morph REEGs do the drunken sailor dance.

with love, artie

ps: a single feather from the bird for DNA testing would be the only way to get to a definitive answer. But speculating is fun.

I don’t have a chance to observe the birds you are describing but I have not stopped digging to get an answer.

I understand your comment that it could not possibly be a Little Blue Heron. From a size perspective, it is too small to be a Great Blue Heron and more like the size of a Reddish Egret.

I also believe you mentioned it does not exhibit the drunken sailor feeding style of the Reddish Egret. I found a research paper “Plumage Dimorphism in the Reddish Egret: Does Plumage Coloration Influence Foraging Habitat Use and Tactics?” that assessed feeding style differences between white and dark morph Reddish Egrets. The study’s findings suggest that the white morph is more likely to stand and wait, while the darker morph is more likely to walk and run. This might explain what you are seeing.

On the subject of the dark bill, I reviewed portions of Advanced Birding by The National Audubon Society. Although the bill of the Reddish Egret is characterized by an abrupt line separating the pink and black, this may not be present in immatures and some winter adults where the bill may be be entirely dark.

On the question of feather colour, I explored the possibility of a Reddish Egret intermediate morph. I recently observed large numbers of Snow Geese and there were clearly intermediates between the light and dark morphs. On the site for neotropical birds from Cornell, I reviewed the Reddish Egret and they advise that there are occasionally pied or intermediate birds.

So, for what it’s worth and hopefully more helpful than my previous suggestion, it might be an intermediate morph of a Reddish Egret in winter plumage.

Best wishes,

Don M.