Thanks - well its definitely not a Great Egret, and I do think Intermediate is likely, but I know there were Swinhoe's reported that same day there, I didn't see any clear Intermediates that day, plus, and this is the real question I have, is I'm not sure what the distinguishing features between an Intermediate Egret and a Swinhoe's Egret at that time of year in situations where a Swinhoe's is not in winter plumage but has not yet entered full breeding plumage (maybe a first summer bird or one that, for whatever reason, is not breeding that year).
All the books I have seen discuss how to tell an Intermediate from a Great Egret (the gape feature you mention is commonly cited, but I thnk this also holds true for a Swinhoe's versus a Great?), or a Swinhoe's from a white morph Pacific Egret, but not how to tell a Swinhoe's in semi-breeding plumage from an Intermediate. The features often mentioned for an Intermediate vis-a-vis a Little Egret - larger size, stubbier yellow bill, thicker neck, etc - are also mentioned for a Swinhoe's vis-a-vis a Little Egret - ie both species, relative to a Little Egret, are typically bigger, with thicker necks and stubbier yellow bills - again just based on the the literature I have found. But if you have a summer Swinhoe's with no head plumes, how do you tell it from an Intermediate?
Looked at a bunch of photos from the Egrets photo section on this site and I see many examples of both Intermediate and Swinhoe's that look to me quite a bit like this bird.
So I am stuck and looking for some help! Plus now I'm just curious as to how anyone would tell them apart.
Thanks
