Identifying white wading birds

1. Establish relative size

Larger: Great Egret, Wood Stork are about 38", white morph of Great Blue Heron is about 50"

Smaller: immature Little Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, White Ibis, and Cattle Egret are all about 24" tall

2. Look at the legs and bills to separate the ones that are the same size

3. Determine habitat. Among the smaller birds, the Little Blue Heron and Snowy Egret will usually be around water; the White Ibis will be around water but occasionally in wet yards and muddy areas; the Cattle Egret will be in drier, open areas but not usually in yards or mud

4. Hunting techniques differ. The Wood Stork and White Ibis are tactile feeders (hunt by touch) while the others are visual hunters (hunt by sight).

Larger white birds (right)

Great Egret (background)

• bill: adult-- thin and straight, darker upper mandible, yellow lower; immature-- thin and straight, yellow
• legs: dark
• neck: thin
• head: all feathered
• hunt: visual hunter; stands erect or crouching and then stabs at prey

Wood Stork (foreground)

• bill: adult-- thick, grayish, slightly curved down; immature-- thick, yellow, slightly curved down
• legs: dark with pinkish feet
• neck: thick
• head: adult-- no feathers; immature-- fuzzy looking but going bald
• hunt: tactile hunter; sweeps open bill back and forth through the water until it touches something to eat

Great Blue Heron, white morph (not shown-- not seen from boardwalk; a really big white bird almost a foot taller than the Great Egret or Wood Stork)

• bill: thin and straight, yellow
• legs: yellow
• neck: thin
• head: all feathered
• hunt: visual hunter, stands erect or crouching and then stabs at prey

Little Blue Heron, immature (left)

• bill: straight, two-tone blue-gray from head half way and then dark
• legs: yellowish to greenish
• hunt: visual hunter; stands erect or crouching and stabs at prey; tends to criss-cross same area

Snowy Egret (center)

• bill: straight, black
• legs: black with yellow feet
• hunt: visual hunter; stands erect or crouching and stabs at prey; tends to move away from area just hunted

White Ibis (right)

• bill: curved down, red to red-orange
• legs: red to red orange
• hunt: tactile hunter; walks with head down probing in mud or under aquatic vegetation with slightly open bill

Cattle Egret (not shown -- won't be in same habitat as three above)

• bill: yellow
• legs: yellow
• hunt: visual hunter; stands erect to locate then runs to it and stabs at prey