Western Reef Herons?

[Jacqueline Burrell]

Can you confirm that these are Western Reef Herons as I have never seen them with a grey morph before?

Is there an explantion for the two different colours? Will a grey breed with a white and if so, when it comes to the chicks is there a dominant colour?

Are there herons which are a mixture of grey and white?

Jacqueline

[Colin Key]

Jacqueline,

Yes, these are Western Reef Egrets. I do not understand the biology behind the reason for two colour morphs (something I ought to look up!) but it is not uncommon in some species (especially raptors). I presume that the two extremes (white and dark grey) interbreed since I have seen a couple of "messy looking" individuals (mixture of grey and white) which are considered intermediates.

It is also know that they interbreed with Little Egret and we currently have an odd hybrid in the Algarve at Tavira salt pans.

Colin

[JanJ]

Perhaps not the right place at this moment, but what are the current suggestion about the (so called) Wester Reef Egrets in N. America? To me they don´t look like WRE, mainly on bill structure.

http://slybird.blogspot.com/2007/07/bird-of-day-western-reef-heron.html

http://stokesbirdingblog.blogspot.com/2006/09/western-reef-heron-continues.html


JanJ

[Colin Key]

Interesting stuff Jan, I was not aware of these US sightings. Looking at some of the better of the linked photographs I can see what you mean about the bill structure (perhaps not broad enough at the base and maybe too straight?), but on overall plumage and general "appearance" it is difficult not to call this as WRE.

Do you know if there has been a positive ID of Little Egret with this dark grey plumage?

Just to "muddy the water", we now have a Cattle Egret in the Algarve which has a mixture of white and black plumage; when I first saw it I thought it looked like an "oiled" bird, but it is for real.

Colin :twitcy:

[Jacqueline Burrell]

What about the plumage of this guy?

Marsa Alam, South Red Sea last December.

[JanJ]

Hi Colin.

I suppose dark morph Little is rare and my concern about the claimed Western reef Egrets in N.America is that of what is explained here:

http://stokesbirdingblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/possible-western-reef-heron-contd.html

Note that Helbig identifies it as WRE.

http://www.bubo.org/photo/030507_WesternReefEgret/index.htm

http://www.netfugl.dk/pictures.php?id=listpictures&species_id=77

http://www.tarsiger.com/gallery/index.php?sp=find&lang=fin&order=tieteellinen,paiva%20DESC&species=egretta+gularis&pic_type=tieteellinen

http://www.pbase.com/tony_palliser/barc_images&page=3

Some nice images by Lloyd Spitalnik:

http://www.pbase.com/btblue/wading_birds

JanJ

[Colin Key]

Hello Jan,

Firstly, thank you for the taking the time and trouble to provide these links. I have bookmarked them for future use because this species (WRE) does turn up in Southern Iberia every year and there is always much debate about ID. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) record photos taken are usually very poor digiscoped shots.

The Lillian & Don Stokes blog is very nice; they present material in a succinct but not superficial way - I like their style.

As to what to make of these birds, all I can say is "phew" - it is all a bit of a "swamp". I think that Nikolas Haass sums it up by saying: "Still there is much room for thought, discovery, and research on these exciting birds."

I look forward to further thoughts.

Colin