SOUTHEASTERN CARIBBEAN BIRDS PHOTO GALLERY

Trinidad & Tobago Field Naturalists' Club    Southeastern Caribbean Bird Alert    Trinidad & Tobago Rare Bird Committee

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

Western Reef-Heron (Egretta gularis)

A                                                   B

Dark-morph individual at Nariva Swamp, Trinidad, 22 January 1986 (A-B). Photos © by Winston Nanan. First record for T&T and for South America. Found by William Murphy and Winston Nanan. Note the white throat, which distinguishes this species from the Little Blue Heron (E. caerulea), as well as an apparent white patch on the right wing visible in flight. For further details, see: Murphy, W. L., and W. Nanan. 1987. First confirmed record of Western Reef-Heron Egretta gularis for South America. American Birds 41:392-394.

C	D	E

F	G

Dark-morph first-winter immature at Buccoo, Tobago, 22 December 2000 (C-E) and in adult plumage on 8 October 2001 (F-G) . Photos © by Floyd Hayes. First for Tobago, second for T&T and for South America. Found by Martyn Kenefick on 16 December 2000, this individual was last reported on 8 October 2001. Note the white throat, dark but not black bill, and greenish feet. The brown tones on the wings in December 2000 indicate that it is an immature; by July 2001, the brown tones were no longer visible. A dark-morph Little Egret (E. garzetta), which is extremely rare, would lack the white throat.