The One That Got Away?

I'm not averse to the odd spell of rain or occasional strong winds, but am I the only one thinking May's weather is now a little tedious?

It was during one of the multitude of May showers on Saturday evening when a very interesting Egret dropped in to Inner Marsh Farm. The Heron stayed for a mere two minutes, but that was enough time to stimulate considerable interest in me and two other observers as to its identification.

The bird was clearly not a Little Egret - too many plumage differences including the colouration of the legs. It was also noticeably bigger than a Little Egret although not considerably so. Naturally, thoughts then turned to a Great White Egret but again there were too many discrepancies: it didn't seem to be quite big enough and crucially the line that passes beneath the eye did not proceed past it - as it should do in a GW Egret. (This is one of the first things I look at on a large Egret as it is the most reliable method of separating GW Egret and Intermediate Egret).

I was a little stumped. Fortunately, the couple of minutes the Egret was present enabled me and my co-observers to note down the salient features: paleish to yellow tibias, dark to black tarsus', a grey to darkish bill and a definite 'kink' in the neck. In terms of size it appeared to be somewhat midway between a Little Egret and Great White Egret. When the bird took to flight the wings appeared to be broader than a Little Egret and the wingbeat more relaxed. Finally, there also seemed to be a red ring on one leg, possibly both.

Returning home in the evening I scoured the internet. A pale phase Western Reef Egret or an Intetmediate Egret bore the closest resemblance but neither was compelling. On Sunday I met up again with one of my fellow birders from the previous day. He had been looking through a book of Egrets with the warden and thought that the mystery bird looked very similar to a juvenile Little Blue Heron.

I had not seriously considered this bird as I assumed they were both too small and too blue! However, the Little Blue Heron has a pale phase as a juvenile and - at its largest - can reach
72cm in height, a marginal but significant difference in size from a Little Egret.

I revisited the internet and trawled around for pictures of this bird in its juvenile stage. The results were promising, however, having never been recorded in the UK before it would obviously be extremely unlikely!

Just to add to the confusion, another of the wardens told me that he was pretty certain that he had seen a GW Egret flying out of the reserve on Sunday morning!

Unless the bird is re-seen and photographed it looks like being cast into the realms of lore...

Until later.