I replied privately last night to John Habig about the behavior of these two birds which was more like Cattle Egrets that forage in grass and pastures. I went past them 3 times in my car and they always returned to the grass, never once going toward the marsh. My experience with Little Blue's at Pinkney NWR in S Carolina was that the adults and immatures like to 'have their feet wet' while feeding at low tide on mudflats and sandy beaches. I never saw them grazing for critters in grass or pastures. Hope this advances the conversation. And Yes, i do have some more pictures that I will post tonight. Matt Valencic On Aug 27, 2013, at 9:51 AM, Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Sent this to Matt earlier; meant to send to the list as well... > BW > > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] Cattle Egrets at ONWR > Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 09:32:38 -0400 > From: Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]> > To: Matt Valencic <[log in to unmask]> > > Matt and all-- > On a quick look, I really doubt the second bird is a cattle egret at > all. It looks lankier, taller, the head structure lacks the underslung > portion below the lower mandible. The bill looks overall much longer > than a cattle's, recalling a snowy or even a little egret. > To me it suggests little egret, too, but I've seen only one of these > that I looked at carefully, mainly because it was in Delaware. Too small > for reddish. > The dark feet seem to rule out out snowy and little...maybe More > photos, descriptions of behavior, might help. Did the second bird ever > wade in the water, as a cattle egret is unlikely to do? See Sibley on > other actions. What are the variations in leg/foot color in various ages > of these white herons? I think the second bird might need some extra > info from Matt; I suspect he has more photos, and could describe behavior. > Bill Whan > Columbus > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. > Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. > > You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS > Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]