Urge Congress to Support It. Can you identify this bird? It is also known as the Great White Egret, the American Egret, the Large Egret or Common Egret.Previously, it was also referred to as the Great White Heron, leading to confusion with the white morph (form) of the larger, closely related Great Blue Heron.. Chorus or leopard frog? In the early 20th century, they were … That led us to knowing that what we saw was some kind of egret. Even though this bird isn’t flying and there’s nothing to compare its neck and beak length to, both are rather long, so you’d be pretty safe in assuming that this is some kind of heron and not a crane. Similar in size and habitat preference to the Great Blue Heron, the Great Egret (Ardea alba) stands apart by dint of its white feathers and a yellow bill. Several species of herons and both species of North American cranes (whooping and sandhill) can be found there, however, so that won’t help us identify this bird. Cranes also have shorter beaks than herons and egrets, and the bird that we saw had a long, thick beak. I’m going to let you in on a little secret: there isn’t really a difference between egrets and herons. Hopefully you found this little exercise in wildlife identification fun and useful and plan on using your new-found knowledge to get outside and identify the wildlife that lives near you! Here’s a photo of a white-phase great blue heron. This is particularly obvious when the birds are flying. However, I could clearly see it was tall, had dark legs and had a fully yellow beak. Egrets and ibis, herons and pelicans — they all come in white varieties, and that can be confusing, especially since some of them look very similar at first glance. Distributed across most of the tropical and warmer temperate regions of the world, it builds tree nests in colonies close to water. It is also known as the Great White Egret, the American Egret, the Large Egret or Common Egret. Editor’s note: The following in-depth treatment of the white herons and egrets of North America is excerpted from Better Birding: Tips, Tools & Concepts for the Field, by George Armistead and Brian Sullivan (Princeton University Press). Egrets are really just a type of heron, while cranes belong to a separate group of birds, so for the purposes of identifying Tavie’s bird I’m going to lump herons and egrets together. Heron is a freshwater wading bird that belongs to the same family as egrets and there are more than 40 species of herons. The little blue heron and the tri-color heron are both a smokey blue-gray color. Though both these birds look very similar to each other they can be distinguished under few factors such as biological name, genera, height, legs, and … The largest member of the Family: Ardeidae is a heron, which is Goliath heron that measures almost one and half metres for the body length. The easiest way to differentiate herons from cranes for identification purposes is to look at their necks. Cattle egrets and snowy egrets are smaller than what was in the wetland. One of two native Ardea species, they stand between three and four feet tall, with a wing span that approaches six feet. Could it be a swan or snow goose? So, let’s figure out what kind of bird this is, shall we? Cattle egrets and snowy egrets are also found farther south than Iowa for the most part. An egret is really a type of heron, usually white and with fine plumes that develop during breeding season. Snowy egrets also have black beaks that are quite thin. Cranes’ necks are a shorter than those of herons, and they typically hold them straight. Cranes also have shorter beaks than herons. The word egret has been derived from the French word aigrette which means plume feathers. However, we learned while researching that great blue herons do have an all-white color morph called the great white heron. https://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/bird-species/herons-egrets Plus, both cranes have red patches around their eyes, and this bird definitely didn’t have any coloring on its face. It didn’t look like a great blue heron, because it was an all-white bird, and great blue herons have a distinctive gray-blue color with a black band behind the eye. Compare the leg color to the bird in Tavie’s photo and you’ll see the difference. Our beloved wildlife ambassador has been creating lifelong connections with nature for generations.