Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Something odd about the Nisqually Great Egret
Date: Jan 17 12:59:38 2011
From: Dennis Paulson - dennispaulson at comcast.net


I have just looked at John's photos in response to Dave Richardson's query, and they are quite interesting. I have seen thousands of Great Egrets in the Americas, and I don't recall ever seeing one with yellow legs above the ankle joint.

The "Great White Egret" (the name of the same species in the Old World), however, develops yellow tibiae (the legs above the ankle) in the breeding season, and the yellow extends down the outer sides of the tarsi. This is not the case in New World population. I wonder if this bird could possibly be an Old World individual. I don't suppose we'll ever know, as - for one thing - this isn't the breeding season, and Old World populations should have entirely black legs now. And the bird doesn't come with a bar code or mailing label.

Nevertheless, it's very interesting, and it will be worthwhile to continue to document that bird if it stays around. I think we do need the photographers after all.

Dennis

On Jan 17, 2011, at 12:02 PM, tweeters-request at mailman2.u.washington.edu wrote:

> Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2011 07:20:31 -0800
> From: John Riegsecker <jriegsecker at pobox.com>
> Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Something odd about the Nisqually Great Egret
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
>
> I'm not sure if you were asking for photos of Great Egrets in general,
> or the one at Nisqually in particular. My photos of the one at
> Nisqually seem to show the legs as yellow/yellowish above the knee and
> black below.
>
> http://skygardener.zenfolio.com/p469412472/h1e38cc0b#h11405fcb
>
> --
> John Riegsecker, Gig Harbor, WA
> jriegsecker at pobox dot com

-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



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