Mystery Bird: Great Egret, Casmerodius albus

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[Mystery birds] Great Egret, Casmerodius albus, photographed on High Island, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]

Image: Joseph Kennedy, 29 March 2009 [larger view].

Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/1000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.

Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.

Rick Wright, author of Aimophila Adventures and Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:

This is a big, lanky, long-legged bird with a pointed bill and a snaky neck -- a heron. Most herons with a white plumage are called egrets (but not all of them: think of Little Blue Heron, Egretta caerulea, for example). The mystery bird is in a spectacular display posture, showing off the long, fine plumes to full advantage.

The long, dark tarsus and yellow bill with lime-green lores can belong only to a Great Egret, and probably only to a Great Egret of the New World race egretta: the other three subspecies are more extensively dark on the bill, and redder on the leg, in the breeding season.

Review all mystery birds to date.

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This is a Starry Bird of Paradise, known for its dazzling display which is reminiscent of a pure-white star sapphire... Otherwise known as a Great Egret, with its characteristic black legs, bright green lores, and stunning aigrettes.

Alternate identity: the Stilt-Legged Lorax, Egrettus seussianus.

I'm not sure what it is, but when people's hair does that, it usually means they're either about to be hit by lighting or have been holding on to the Van de Graaf generator way too long.

aww, it's a great egret in breeding plumage! >he's got such a perty yellow beak<

By BrinyDeep (not verified) on 15 May 2009 #permalink

Cherish, You forgot, "... or it's the reincarnation of Dr. Emilio Lizardo." (mandatory Buckaroo Banzai reference :-))

It is indeed a beautiful picture of a spectacular bird.

Luckily the small egrets aren´t hunted today fot these beautiful feathers....