I'm wondering if I saw a Great White Heron. I was on a non-birding visit (but with binoculars) to Marshlands Conservancy on the day before hurricane/TS Henri when I saw a large white heron/egret that has been troubling me. Compared to the many Great Egrets that I saw today in NJ, this bird remains anomalous, so:
Initially assumed to be Great Egret. The bill appeared too massive, the upper mandible somewhat dark, and the culmen somewhat straight. The overall bill color did not present as the intense yellow that I saw on all the Great Egrets today. The legs were blackish on the lower 1/4 (mud?) but definitely not black for the remainder - more along the lines of olive but not yellow. It flew from the shore (where I had assumed it was just a Great Egret) to one of the mid-channel platforms and it gave a call that reminded me of Great Blue, which is why I actually looked at it again. No plumes. Lores appeared greenish but this bird was viewed at range without a scope. On the face of it, it has potential to be Great White Heron but I assumed I was just going senile since I've only ever seen that in FL. I may yet still be nute, but this evening I noticed: https://ebird.org/checklist/S74368904 from Oct 2020 (Cos Cob, CT), also one report from Nov, and also references an initial report by James Muchmore in late Sept 2020. Anyone birding the north shore of the L.I. sound might want to check Great Egrets a little more carefully than usual. Phil Jeffrey Princetin-ish NJ -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
