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gemfyreThere are some birds called Herons, and there are some birds called Egrets. But like dove and pigeon, heron and egret are essentially interchangeble. Egrets tend to be larger and more slender, with long necks while most herons are stocky and short necked. These birds are often found near water, and usually adopt a stalk and snatch hunting strategy.
White-faced Heron - Egretta novaehollandiae
Photo by AndyT of Birdforum.
The White-faced Heron is probably the most common heron/egret in the Perth area. If you have a fishpond and notice the fish are going missing, this is your likely culprit. White-faced Herons like hanging around in damp fields as well as lakes and waterways. The White-faced heron is pretty easy to identify -
- small grey/blue heron.
- white face.
That's pretty much all there is too it. Herons and egrets seem easy don't they?
Great Egret - Ardea alba
Photo by Mil of Birdforum.
If you see a white egret at a wetland good chances are that it is a Great Egret. The problem is, it may be a Little Egret, which is much rarer, but seems to be getting more common at Herdsman Lake at certain times of the year, like now. Or if you're near the coast it may even be a white phase Eastern Reef Egret (they also come in slate grey), but we won't get into that one because they're pretty uncommon - and I'm not up to par with IDing them myself.
Little Egret - Ardea garzetta
Photo by Donald Talbott of Birdforum.
So, how to tell them apart? Each bird is all white with a long neck and long legs. In the breeding season they each develop pretty plume feathers, at one time they were hunted for these feathers.
- The Great Egret usually has a yellow beak and legs while the Little Egret is black in these parts with a yellow base to the beak. But in breeding season the Great Egret's bill turns black and their legs darken too.
- Field guides explain that the gape differs. If you can get a good enough view, you will notice that the yellow at the base of the beak keep going under and behind the eye of a Great Egret, while it stops halfway beneath the eye of a Little Egret. Unless you have a very obliging egret and expensive optics, you're probably not going to be able to get a close enough look.
- The Great Egret is larger. This doesn't help much unless the two species are side by side (which does happen). The Great Egrets neck is longer and more kinked than the Little Egret's.
- I find the easiest thing to look for to differentiate these two is behaviour. The Great Egret likes to stand still in the shallows, staring intently at something below the surface, then all of a sudden, WHAM! The neck whips out and returns with a fish in the beak. The Little Egret is a lot more active with it's hunting technique, skipping through the shallows and grabbing any tidbits that look good to eat. You will even see them sometimes shaking a foot about to stir up mud and draw curious fish. In Broome Little Egrets regularly follow Australian White Ibis on the mudflats, picking up any morsels the Ibis leave behind.
Rufous Night Heron - Nycticorax caledonicus
Photo by kampang of Birdforum.
Also known as the Nankeen Night Heron, this is the most secretive of the Perth herons/egrets. They are a lot more common than you realise, and if you sit still and watch closely in any copse of melaleucas (paperbarks) by a wetland you will probably see one or two, or in some cases (like near the Gould League Centre at Herdsman Lake) 70 or more. They are easilly unsettled so you may notice a commotion above you as you enter the paperbarks, keep an eye out for birds flying around before resettling in the trees and staring at you intently. The Night Heron is generally nocturnal (if you are at a lake at dusk you will notice them leaving their roosts and flying about), hence why it's called a Night Heron I guess.
- They are rather pretty birds, with rich rufous feathers on the back, a black cap and piercing yellow eyes. Some individuals may also have a long white plume on the back of the head.
- Juveniles are much more camouflaged, being a striated brown pattern. They have the same piercing stare as the adults.
Juvenile Rufous Night Heron
Photo by Tony Brown of Birdforum.
White-faced Heron - Egretta novaehollandiae
Photo by AndyT of Birdforum.
The White-faced Heron is probably the most common heron/egret in the Perth area. If you have a fishpond and notice the fish are going missing, this is your likely culprit. White-faced Herons like hanging around in damp fields as well as lakes and waterways. The White-faced heron is pretty easy to identify -
- small grey/blue heron.
- white face.
That's pretty much all there is too it. Herons and egrets seem easy don't they?
Great Egret - Ardea alba
Photo by Mil of Birdforum.
If you see a white egret at a wetland good chances are that it is a Great Egret. The problem is, it may be a Little Egret, which is much rarer, but seems to be getting more common at Herdsman Lake at certain times of the year, like now. Or if you're near the coast it may even be a white phase Eastern Reef Egret (they also come in slate grey), but we won't get into that one because they're pretty uncommon - and I'm not up to par with IDing them myself.
Little Egret - Ardea garzetta
Photo by Donald Talbott of Birdforum.
So, how to tell them apart? Each bird is all white with a long neck and long legs. In the breeding season they each develop pretty plume feathers, at one time they were hunted for these feathers.
- The Great Egret usually has a yellow beak and legs while the Little Egret is black in these parts with a yellow base to the beak. But in breeding season the Great Egret's bill turns black and their legs darken too.
- Field guides explain that the gape differs. If you can get a good enough view, you will notice that the yellow at the base of the beak keep going under and behind the eye of a Great Egret, while it stops halfway beneath the eye of a Little Egret. Unless you have a very obliging egret and expensive optics, you're probably not going to be able to get a close enough look.
- The Great Egret is larger. This doesn't help much unless the two species are side by side (which does happen). The Great Egrets neck is longer and more kinked than the Little Egret's.
- I find the easiest thing to look for to differentiate these two is behaviour. The Great Egret likes to stand still in the shallows, staring intently at something below the surface, then all of a sudden, WHAM! The neck whips out and returns with a fish in the beak. The Little Egret is a lot more active with it's hunting technique, skipping through the shallows and grabbing any tidbits that look good to eat. You will even see them sometimes shaking a foot about to stir up mud and draw curious fish. In Broome Little Egrets regularly follow Australian White Ibis on the mudflats, picking up any morsels the Ibis leave behind.
Rufous Night Heron - Nycticorax caledonicus
Photo by kampang of Birdforum.
Also known as the Nankeen Night Heron, this is the most secretive of the Perth herons/egrets. They are a lot more common than you realise, and if you sit still and watch closely in any copse of melaleucas (paperbarks) by a wetland you will probably see one or two, or in some cases (like near the Gould League Centre at Herdsman Lake) 70 or more. They are easilly unsettled so you may notice a commotion above you as you enter the paperbarks, keep an eye out for birds flying around before resettling in the trees and staring at you intently. The Night Heron is generally nocturnal (if you are at a lake at dusk you will notice them leaving their roosts and flying about), hence why it's called a Night Heron I guess.
- They are rather pretty birds, with rich rufous feathers on the back, a black cap and piercing yellow eyes. Some individuals may also have a long white plume on the back of the head.
- Juveniles are much more camouflaged, being a striated brown pattern. They have the same piercing stare as the adults.
Juvenile Rufous Night Heron
Photo by Tony Brown of Birdforum.
