Some animals come in two versions; and for this week's SMAP, we have one of our feathered friends in its big and small formats!
Truth be told, they are two separate species, with their subtle differences: the little egret and the great egret.
The little one is by far the most common in Portugal. We can see them everywhere, and its size is a lot more similar to the cattle egret.
We can easily distinguish her by the combination of black legs and yellow feet, although sometimes this is not so easy. Why? well, these photos can give you a clue: we usually see them in muddy terrains like these, rich in the critters they eat. And muddy feet can easily hide their true colour!
Fortunately, even with muddy feet, the shape and colour of the beak, along with some experience, makes the identification easy. And given how common they are, there are no shortage of opportunities to see them if you go out on the fields with your binoculars.
Their "bigger versions", on the other hand, are a lot more harder to spot! And there's a perfectly good explanation for it: yes, they're way bigger... but they don't live here! We can only see them by chance, since they migrate and spend some time here. And while I was driving my car, look what tried to sneak through the bushes!
It seemed too big for a little egret, but I couldn't get a decent look. Shortly after though, I was able to see her in flight, and no doubts at all.
They're almost double the size of the little egret, and no yellow feet here. Not thay you would need to see the black feet: there are no other white egrets this big in the country; all the other egrets of similar size have completely different plummages.
This one glided graciously above the shallow waters, and landed shortly after to allow a decent photo.
The full yellow beak is also a distinctive feature but again, the size alone is enough to identify it. Too bad I couldn't get the two species side by side... but being able to see them so clearly, especially the great egret, was more than enough for a very nice birdwatching session.
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Thank you @ewkaw and @qurator!
Very interesting. There is a big and small white egret combination in California too. But I think they are different. For sure the little one is different species.
Indeed! You got me curious and I went looking: the big one seems to be the same species, and the smaller one is the snowy egret, which looks really similar to the little egret: they even share the yellow feet!