Egret ?

[turkeyfeathers]

So the last 4 days I've spotted what I believe to be an egret. Size of a great blue heron but white. Is this what I'm seeing ? It's in Como Lake in Lancaster if anyone in the area wants to check it out. Have noticed one here and there over the years. Cell phone pic was bunk or I'd post pic. 

[Pygmy]

Cool, TF...

I have seen several great egrets over the years in NY. A few years back one was hanging around just downstream of the Centerway Bridge in Corning for a few weeks.

There is also a white phase of the Great Blue Heron that looks very similar to the egret. The best way to differentiate them is to look at the legs. An egret has black legs, and the heron's legs are yellow.

[turkeyfeathers]

Cool, TF...

I have seen several great egrets over the years in NY. A few years back one was hanging around just downstream of the Centerway Bridge in Corning for a few weeks.

There is also a white phase of the Great Blue Heron that looks very similar to the egret. The best way to differentiate them is to look at the legs. An egret has black legs, and the heron's legs are yellow.

Ha, was in Corning yesterday and what a neat stretch of water, Cohocton river I believe. Can't believe the floodline markers of '72. Crazy. 

 

Yes, it had black legs. Thanks for defining the difference. 

[Pygmy]

The river that flows through Corning is the Chemung.  Upstream, at Erwin Junction, the Tioga and the Canisteo flow  together and form the Chemung.  The Cohocton flows into it just west of Corning, near Painted Post.

 

I have identified white herons in Florida, but I don't recall ever seeing one here in NY.

 

Thier plumage is somewhat more "shaggy" looking than the egret , and they do have a crest, as the blue heron, but these differences are not always prominent.

 

The easiest field mark to differentiate them is the leg color.

[turkeyfeathers]

Egret is still hanging out. Saw it again this morning and with a friend, a great blue heron within 30 ' of egret. Wish I owned a nice camera.

[wooly]

They are super cool looking birds for those of us who aren't used to seeing them every day.

I saw this one out on Grand Island a few years back. It was one of the first pics I ever took with my camera so the quality is not very good.

Very skittish compared to the blue herons that were also in the area.

 

[NeverSeenNorHeard]

I've seen a few here and there