If you’re looking for signs of spring, try this one on for size. This Great Egret landed in Hull this morning (April 8, 2014) in a basin just off the Weir River, and started looking for food.
While we have many members of this bird family in our region, some are much more popular than others. Great and Snowy Egrets will be numerous soon, and will join the Great Blue Herons in stalking our marshes. Others, like Cattle Egrets, Little Blue Herons and Glossy Ibises, will be rarer sightings, as will smaller Green Herons, Black-crowned Night-Herons and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons.
So, how to tell a Great from a Snowy? Yellow Bill, Black Feet = Great (they’re also larger); Black Bill, “Golden Slippers” = Snowy. And that’s April for you – out with the Snowy Owls, in with the Snowy Egrets!