(Credit: U. S. Geological Survey)

Reddish Egret - Egretta rufescens

Identification Tips:

  1. Length: 25 inches Wingspan: 46 inches
  2. Sexes similar
  3. Medium-sized, long-legged, long-necked wader
  4. Bill fairly long and pointed
  5. Pink-based bill with black tip
  6. Dark legs and feet
  7. Sometimes actively feeds by flapping wings and running through shallow water
  8. Usually holds neck in an "S" curve at rest and in flight

Adult-dark morph:

  1. Blue-gray body
  2. Brownish head and neck with shaggy plumes

Adult-white morph:

  1. White body
  2. White head and neck with shaggy plumes

Immature:

  1. Brown body, head, and neck

Similar species:

In all plumages the heavy, pink-based bill and shaggy neck are diagnostic. The dark Little Blue Heron is somewhat similar but has a gray-based bill and is smaller without the shaggy neck. Tricolored Heron has a white belly. White morph birds are similar to egrets and other white phase herons but note the different bill and leg colors.