HKBWS BBS 香港觀鳥會新聞組


    
      
        HKBWS BBS 香 港 觀 鳥 會 新 聞 組
        (http://www.hkbws.org.hk/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl)
      

        Discussion Area 討論區 >> Photo Gallery 相片分享 I >>  Flying Swinhoe's Egret (record only )
        
(Message started by: Neil on Aug 1^st, 2006, 3:33pm)

Title: Flying Swinhoe's Egret (record only )
Post by Neil on Aug 1^st, 2006, 3:33pm

There have been a few Swinhoe's seen around Mai Po recently and this one was hanging around in front of Hide 3. When he flew off I managed to get this photo with my new 300/f4 lens. Neil.

Mai Po Nature Reserve,
Hong Kong,
China.

31/07/06
Nikon D2x plus Nikon 300/f4 AFS lens (in Crop mode )

http://www.pbase.com/neilfif11/image/64434734.jpg

Title: Re: Flying Swinhoe's Egret (record only )
Post by carmen on Aug 1^st, 2006, 3:40pm

A Swinhoe's egret should have yellow toes.
Is this a intermediate egret instead?

Title: Re: Flying Swinhoe's Egret (record only )
Post by Falcon on Aug 1^st, 2006, 5:55pm

Thats very hard to say...because sometimes Swinhoe's Egrets and Little Egrets get their feet very dirty(coverd with mud) :P...so they sometimes looks black or dark brown, but this might still well be a Swinhoe's Egret.

I will like to hear some opinion from experts though. ;)

Title: Re: Flying Swinhoe's Egret (record only )
Post by Neil on Aug 2^nd, 2006, 8:15pm

Here is the bird before it flew off. Neil

Mai Po Nature Reserve,
Hong Kong,
China.
31/07/-6

Fuji F30 plus Swarovski STS80HD scope and Sw 30x eyepiece and Scopetronixe EZ-Pix adapter

http://www.pbase.com/neilfif11/image/64492188.jpg

Title: Re: Flying Swinhoe's Egret (record only )
Post by Falcon on Aug 2^nd, 2006, 8:36pm

This is a Intermediate Egret after all. ;)

Title: Re: Flying Swinhoe's Egret (record only )
Post by Neil on Aug 4^th, 2006, 7:57pm

Now I'm confused. The flying bird seems to have some yellow on it's feet but they are probably a bit muddy. Neither bird seems to have a black bill tip. Neil.

Title: Re: Flying Swinhoe's Egret (record only )
Post by carmen on Aug 4^th, 2006, 8:44pm

Yes, there is the black bill tip. Not mud, I think.
And the bill is a bit too short for a Swinhoe's.
So it is a Intermediate.

Title: Re: Flying Swinhoe's Egret (record only )
Post by johnallcock on Aug 7^th, 2006, 4:57pm

I think this bird is actually a cattle egret.

The bill is fairly short and stout, the neck is short and thick and the legs are also fairly short. Other egret species with yellow bills (great, intermediate and swinhoe's) should have longer, slimmer bill, neck and legs. Also this bird seems particularly small against the grass, although this feature can be tricky to judge on a photo.

The lack of breeding plumage and rather washed-out (slightly greyish) colour of the bill and facial skin suggest that this is a juvenile.

I noticed last week that there were quite a lot of cattle egrets at Mai Po, especially around pond 20.

Title: Re: Flying Swinhoe's Egret (record only )
Post by Neil on Aug 7^th, 2006, 5:55pm

Thanks John,
Looking at the neck it looks a little short for Intermediate and it did have a sort of off-white color. I'll ammend to Cattle Egret. Neil.