Hi birding-aussers,
I seem to recall a discussion about Little Egrets in Australia recently. Ruth and I were at the Western Treatment Plant in Victoria today and encountered many Little Egrets (more than either of us ever recall seeing there). In one pond at the T-Section Lagoons we found three Little Egrets – two were the “normal” ones that we see with black bill, black legs and black feet. The other one had a blackish bill with black legs and yellow feet. The yellow-footed egret was being hassled by the black-footed ones and on several occasions they’d fly off chasing each other before returning to the pond.
If I am not mistaken, the yellow-footed Little Egret is the Asian nominate race, Egretta garzetta garzetta – whereas the black-footed Little Egret is the Australian race, Egretta garzetta immaculata or Egretta garzetta nigripes.
Am I correct? How common is the nominate race in Australia? How common is the nominate race in Victoria, and at the Western Treatment Plant?
Thanks!
Paul Dodd
Docklands, Victoria
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The notes Mike refers to – along with his March survey results – are at http://boca.org.au/come-birding/sightings/etp-surveys
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Hi All,
We have recorded the nominate subspecies at Leanyer Sewage Ponds in Darwin on 20/09/2009 (1 bird) and 28/11/2009 (2 birds).
Cheers, Pete Kyne and Micha Jackson
Thanks for this information, Mike. I will look up your article.
The bird we saw definitely had the completely yellow “booties” (not just the soles). It reminded me of the first time that we saw the Asian race in Hong Kong. Unfortunately my camera switched itself to manual focus and by the time we’d sorted itself out, the bird had flown off. I’d be pretty sure it was still around though – we saw it at T-section Lagoons, pond 6. Another birder saw it there, independently of us – and contacted me after seeing my posting on birding-aus.
Paul Dodd
Docklands, Victoria
Sent: Monday, 21 March 2011 4:51 PM Cc: Dave Torr
Yes Paul, you’re quite right about yellow-footed Little Egrets being of the nominate Asian race – that is if there is yellow on the upperside of the toes as well as the underside because as I’m sure you well know, adults of the Australian race have greenish-yellow soles. In more extreme examples, the birds appear to be wearing yellow booties on or to have walked in 2 cm deep bright yellow paint! This subspecies has previously been seen at the WTP Werribee, Victoria, and at Darwin in the Northern Territory where they maintained a presence for several years but I don’t know the current situation there. For the first records, see: Carter, M. & Menkhorst, P. (2006), ‘Nominate Subspecies of the Little Egret Egretta garzetta garzetta in Australian Territory’, Australian Field Ornithology, 23: 104-108. Unfortunately I don’t have a pdf of this paper. That paper has photographs that show the diagnostic features. Note that these subspecies also differ in the loral pattern whilst both have mostly black bills in adult plumage. In the Australian subspecies, the bare skin of the lores extends from the eye to the forehead and is bright yellow or orange. In the nominate race the loral pattern is less conspicuous because the pale area is restricted to the upper loral region with the black of the bill continuous through the gape almost to the eye. You should check this to confirm that your bird is of the Asian form.
On the other side of Port Phillip Bay we too have been having an interesting time with Egrets at the Eastern Treatment Plant. On 6 March we had our first Intermediate Egret since March 2001 with the only other recent record nearby being one in March 2006 at Edithvale. On that day we had two other Egrets greatly different in size that confused us for a long while but which I now believe were BOTH juvenile Little Egrets in spite of the size difference. Furthermore, we had similar birds on two other nearby wetlands on Saturday 19 March. The bills on these birds are black distally but yellow on basal half and some have black, not greenish-yellow soles. All the birds were photographed and I have written detailed reports which will be sent to Dave Torr with a view to placing them on the BOCA website. I suspect that they may have bred locally so we are seeing unfamiliar, very young, birds.
Mike Carter 30 Canadian Bay Road Mount Eliza VIC 3930 Tel (03) 9787 7136
Yes Paul, you’re quite right about yellow-footed Little Egrets being of the nominate Asian race – that is if there is yellow on the upperside of the toes as well as the underside because as I’m sure you well know, adults of the Australian race have greenish-yellow soles. In more extreme examples, the birds appear to be wearing yellow booties on or to have walked in 2 cm deep bright yellow paint! This subspecies has previously been seen at the WTP Werribee, Victoria, and at Darwin in the Northern Territory where they maintained a presence for several years but I don’t know the current situation there. For the first records, see: Carter, M. & Menkhorst, P. (2006), ‘Nominate Subspecies of the Little Egret Egretta garzetta garzetta in Australian Territory’, Australian Field Ornithology, 23: 104-108. Unfortunately I don’t have a pdf of this paper. That paper has photographs that show the diagnostic features. Note that these subspecies also differ in the loral pattern whilst both have mostly black bills in adult plumage. In the Australian subspecies, the bare skin of the lores extends from the eye to the forehead and is bright yellow or orange. In the nominate race the loral pattern is less conspicuous because the pale area is restricted to the upper loral region with the black of the bill continuous through the gape almost to the eye. You should check this to confirm that your bird is of the Asian form.
On the other side of Port Phillip Bay we too have been having an interesting time with Egrets at the Eastern Treatment Plant. On 6 March we had our first Intermediate Egret since March 2001 with the only other recent record nearby being one in March 2006 at Edithvale. On that day we had two other Egrets greatly different in size that confused us for a long while but which I now believe were BOTH juvenile Little Egrets in spite of the size difference. Furthermore, we had similar birds on two other nearby wetlands on Saturday 19 March. The bills on these birds are black distally but yellow on basal half and some have black, not greenish-yellow soles. All the birds were photographed and I have written detailed reports which will be sent to Dave Torr with a view to placing them on the BOCA website. I suspect that they may have bred locally so we are seeing unfamiliar, very young, birds.
Mike Carter 30 Canadian Bay Road Mount Eliza VIC 3930 Tel (03) 9787 7136