Great Blue Herons, the smaller Little Blue and both the Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons are obviously related in generalized shape, plumes and flying form, but the Little Blue and the so-called Night Herons' necks are shorter and chunkier.

I keep thinking it it would be more obvious to classify the big egrets with the bigger, longer-necked herons in one family, with the shorter stockier birds — egrets and herons — in a separate class, even if both the big and little herons sometimes have similarly configured caps and head plumes.

The long, tall, slender gray-brown Great Blues, the White Morph Reddish Egret, the reddish Tricolored Heron, white Little Egret and big white Great Egrets seem more closely related than clunked species like Egrets and Herons.

Green Heron and Snowy Egret

The shorter-necked, squat, penguin-like birds, including the dark Little Blue Heron, mostly white Snowy Egret, green and red Green Heron, gray and brown and white Black-crowned Night-Heron and yellowish gray and brown Yellow-crowned Night-Herons are physically more alike than different.

The way I usually distinguish among these birds are the colors of their legs, feet, bills and lores (the bill extension back to their eyes) — usually from photographs later. I can never remember all this when I'm watching these birds. I learn behaviors by watching the birds themselves. Identifications I usually learn from studying my photographs later.

Squattish Great Blue Heron
with Smallish Great Egret

The point of all this confusion is that there is uncertainty about precisely identifying heron and egret species, some of which look a lot like each other even in bright sunlight. But there are a variety of other confusionary conditions. Rising and setting sunlight alters our color perception. The same bird at differing stages of its life look radically different. Because I am so thoroughly confused by their very existence, I will all but ignore the existence of morphs, variants in existing species forms.

When a friend told me last spring that she'd just seen some "white herons" at the spillway, I nodded, knowing that what she'd probably seen were white (the most common color) egrets. Although, if she were an expert birder (I'm certainly not, and I didn't think she was.), she may have been describing a white morph Reddish Egret, a juvenile Little Blue Heron or any of our local four varieties of egret: Cattle, Little, Snowy or Great.

A Great (white) Egret chased from its Fishing Spot by a larger Great Blue Heron.
Despite the sunset-colored side light affecting both birds,
these are classic egrets and great blues.

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HERONS

See the Herons Page for much more information.

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Herons are gray with black head plumes, yellow bills, long fluffy neck plumes, reddish pants (drumsticks/thighs) and sometimes epaulets and gray legs and feet.

Little Blue Heron Wiggle Beaking Fish - June 12 0

Little Blues are nearly black with blue lores and bills and dark feet and legs. Their young are white with black-tipped wing feathers. See additional Little Blue identification comments at the top and bottom of this page.

Black-crowned Night Heron Fishing on the Spillway Steps - May 11 06

Black-crowned Night-Heron adults are white fronted, have dark, thick bills, reddish eyes, white crown plumes, a black cap and back, and gray wings.

Yellow-crown Night-Heron Standing on One Leg - June 13 0

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron adults are gray with white (sometimes appear yellow) swaths and across their faces and on top of their otherwise black heads, with reddish eyes.

Grimacing Green Heron
(The grimacing teeth are markings.)

Green Herons are much smaller with not much that actually is green but a lot that looks green in the shade, where they like to hang out.

Great Egret

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EGRETS

See the Egrets Page for much more information.

Great Egrets are white with long straight yellow bills, black legs and feet;

Juvenile Snowy Egret

Snowy Egrets have black legs, yellow feet, long black bills and yellow lores, with fluffy white head and breast plumes;

Cattle Egret Flying

Cattle Egrets are smaller, stockier, with shorter necks, black legs (except breeding adults, which have red-orange legs and feet) and short, yellow bills. Breeding adult Cattle Egrets have orange crowns, mid-backs, and breasts

Little Egrets are white. Breeding adults have black bills, yellow-orange lores (in mid spring), two long head plumes. Non-breeding adults have stringy breast plumes, dark gray lores and bill, dark upper legs and yellow lower legs with yellow feet. Little Egrets are an Old World species, meaning they're found in Europe, not Texas.

Little Blue Herons Aren't Always Blue

A blue little blue Heron

Little Blue Heron in Amber Morning
Light = little brown heron

I thought I had, but after conferring with genuine experts in bird identification I now know I have never seen a Reddish Egret, and if I haven't seen one, I haven't photographed one, so it's not listed here. Real Reddish Egrets have obviously reddish necks and heads and hang out on the coast, rarely this far inland. Neither have I seen Tricolored Herons, but I hope to see both, eventually. When I do, I'll add them to my list here.

since of feb 17 08

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