Reddish Egret

Status Two sight records. On 5 September 1965, John Comer found what he took to be a Reddish Egret feeding in a marsh at Clam Bay, Halifax County. He studied it for about three-quarters of an hour, at distances as close as 50 m. Next day, he and four others observed it for more than two hours. Noted were the shaggy, dull brick-red head and neck, slate-blue body, particoloured (flesh, with black tip) bill, and restless shuffling and prancing motions "as though [it were] climbing through a wire fence." Mr. Comer was familiar with the species in Florida, and he and the others felt able to exclude the Little Blue Heron as a possibility.

Another bird believed to be of this species was reported by Eileen Armsworthy and June Jarvis, who studied it closely at a range of approximately 30 m as it stood by a pond near Canso, Guysborough County, on 5 November 1966. It was observed under favourable light conditions, aided by binoculars. It was in white-phase plumage. They noted the black tip of its otherwise flesh-coloured bill and its "drunken shume when feeding." A strong gale had lashed the shore the previous day.

Remarks In spite of the foregoing, this species is included with a measure of hesitancy because of its similarity in certain important respects to the uncommon Little Blue Heron, the immatures of which are also white and which it approximates in size. Furthermore, the Reddish Egret has never been definitely recorded in Canada, and its normal range is restricted to the extreme southern parts of the United States and much farther south.