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Egretta thula
This is a favorite spot for this snowy egret. It is always sitting on this tree branch. In these picture it was preening itself.
Local Pond
Size cannot necessarily be used as most Egrets have wide variations in sizes up to 20% although there is no mention of this in my American book, eg length of Little can be 22" to 26", Cattle 18" to 20" although my American book says 17", and 20" for Snowy. We call the strand of feather a Plume, but our Little Egrets do not have head or back plumes, according to my book, and I don't recall ever seeing any. Have to check some photos!
Thanks Malcolm.
The major distinguishing feature which I use to differentiate is that,the snowy egret has a yellow line running between it's beak and eye and the little egret has a grey one.
Also the snowy egret is quite a small bird ,A little bigger than a cattle egret.
Plumage of course is another factor. The little egret has ONE strand of feather on its head ,which I find very funny!
Emma, only the Little Egret and Snowy Egret have black bills and legs and yellow feet. Snowy's are native to America and Little's to Europe and Asia although there may be an overlap between them in Atlantic and Carribean islands.
@ Emma, great site. Not being an experienced bird watcher it took me a few months to sort out the difference between the little egret and the great white heron which share the same habitat with the grey heron behind our house. I've never seen a snowy egret.
@ Bruce,here is a great link which compares the two species.
http://www.oceanwanderers.com/LTEGRT.htm...
Looks very similar to the little egrets (Egretta garzetta) we have here on the Med, but I don't know if they are native to CA.
Spotted on Dec 3, 2011
Submitted on Dec 3, 2011
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