Just wanted to share a word of caution regarding the ID of a recent egret in Falmouth (and probably soon Scarborough). In the past nine years we've seen various apparent hybrid egrets, beginning with the presumed Snowy Egret x Tricolored Heron(s) that frequented the Scarborough Marsh in summer and appear to be wintering around Merritt Island, FL. Alex Lamoreaux did a nice write up on Nemesis Bird back in 2013 about one of these birds (even showing Little Egret characteristics back then) here: https://nemesisbird.com/birding/identification/heron-hybrid-merritt-island-nwr-florida/ I won't get into those Tricolored descendants here, except to mention the apparent influence of Little Egret genes (be it as F1 offspring or perhaps mixing in later on…) With Little Egrets being annual in Maine since 2015, including being seen on Stratton Island (where many of the local egrets are nesting), it isn't much of a surprise that at least one of those birds has been attempting to breed. The water is getting muddy in the last few years as we now have multiple apparent Little x Snowy Egret hybrids being seen.
Although there were suspicious looking birds going back to 2017, one of the first of these more likely Little x Snowy Egret hybrids was reported by Christian Hagenlocher on 29 Jun 2019: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/166310911 This individual shows a typical Snowy Egret structure and features, but also a Little Egret-like (ribbon-like) plume on the head. There were at least two apparent hybrids last year, here is a photo from 1 Jun 2020 by Christopher Lindsey of both together: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/240495151
The bird first reported 30 Mar 2021 by Donald Thompson at Gilsland Farm in Falmouth appears to be a hybrid. Many thanks to Don and everyone else who has been uploading photos of this bird! I wanted to share here a few features for folks to check while looking for Little Egrets or hybrids:
As mentioned on the 2019 & 2020 birds, hybrids show a combination of both bushy (Snowy) and ribbon-like (Little) plumes on the head. David Sibley has a few good blogs on Snowy/Little comparisons, specifically on plumes here: https://www.sibleyguides.com/2011/07/differences-in-plumes-of-little-and-snowy-egret/ and on hybrids here: https://www.sibleyguides.com/2011/08/possible-hybrid-little-x-snowy-egrets/
Don Thompson's shot (https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/321338671) shows a bit of those bushy plumes, and Laura Blutstein's (https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/321423531) really shows the smaller feathers blowing aside.
Compare those to the 2015 bird that looked pure: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/39442811 or this one in 2016: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/30399551
Speaking of plumes, the long plumes on the scapulars (the aigrettes) show a strong recurving off the back, which is more typical of Snowy, and those tend to be straighter on Littles.
Charles Duncan got a shot showing a few head plumes and these recurved aigrettes here: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/321393301
Compare that to either pure bird above, or this apparently pure bird from 2020 (which does have a slight recurve, but still within spec for Little): https://ebird.org/me/checklist/S67716974
The lores on the 2020 video show a courtship color that is only held early in the spring, a vivid pink-red. Those will fade to a slate or gray, though some of the seemingly pure birds in Maine have shown yellowish-green in the lores.
Based on Don's photo (https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/321338651), these lores look more Snowy-yellow than I'd expect on a Little. A few photos of this bird do make the lores look dark, especially in shadow, but we really only want to see a tinge of yellow, definitely better for Little when on the gray to purple spectrum. Compare Tim Fennell's photos of seemingly the same Little from 30 May (https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/161830221) and 30 June (https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/166399751).
Structurally this bird appears atypical for a Little, which are usually lankier (especially longer necked looking) and show a longer, dagger-like bill (think similar to Tricolored). Remember that the name "Little" is a better comparison to the old world Intermediate and Great egrets, not compared to our smaller Snowy Egrets.
For now, I suggest this bird be submitted to eBird as "Little x Snowy Egret (hybrid)" and it is always good to note it as "presumed," at least until we can confirm them nesting on Stratton! Fingers crossed we can get them confirmed for the Maine Bird Atlas.
Good birding,
Doug Hitchcox
Maine Bird Atlas - Outreach Coordinator
Maine Audubon - Staff Naturalist
207-781-2330 x237
dhitchcox@maineaudubon.org
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