benmeredyk's Favorites

Friend sent photos of an egret with black tipped bill for ID asking if it could be a “white morph Reddish Egret”
I suggested it's probably a Great Egret with black mud at front of bill.
Link to Snowy Egret observation for comparison: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/197348662

Great Egret (Ardea alba) is a large, white heron with a long neck and long yellow bill that is designed for spearing prey. It has black legs and feet (unlike Snowy Egrets that are smaller and have a black bill and yellow feet). Breeding adults have long wispy plumes of white feathers. In immature and non-breeding adults, bill and leg color is duller, and plumes are absent. Egrets suffered huge population collapses at the end of the 19th century from the harvesting of plumes for ladies fashions.

Xeno-canto Bird songs, sound recordings, and species range map: https://xeno-canto.org/species/Ardea-alba

Audubon Guide to North American Birds https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/great-egret

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 7th ed., 2017, pp. 260-261.

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 2008,
pp. 90-91, 113.

Monterey Birds, Don Roberson, 2nd ed. 2002, sponsored by Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society, p. 113.

Ebird with species description, range map and sound recordings: https://ebird.org/species/greegr/

The Cornell Lab https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/ and https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Egret

Merlin Bird ID (great app available for Iphones) by The Cornell Lab (Bird ID help for 8,500+ species) https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/

Comprehensive Feather I.D. tools and more: https://foundfeathers.org/resources/

Found Feathers: https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/idtool.php