Hi everyone,
Cattle and little egrets have been showing quite nicely over the last few days, so I thought it was a good time to post some details about the two so you can tell them apart!
Cattle egret are slightly smaller but much rarer than the little egret, cattle egrets are visiting the UK in increasing numbers (although wintering numbers are only about 100 in the UK). They often spend time close to livestock and grab insects and worms which their hooves disturb. Cattle egrets have yellow or greyish legs and a yellow beak, compared to the black legs (with yellow feet) and black beak of the little egret.
They are much smaller than a grey heron, with a much shorter bill, neck and legs compared to a little egret. This time of year both little and cattle egret look similar. In summer the cattle egret has a lovely buff/ yellowish colouring (see pictures below), but in winter they are paler like the little egret. The cattle egret has the smaller yellow bill, and the little egret the longer black bill.
Cattle egret in summer plumage by Mike Langham (rspb-images.com)
Here you can see the summer plumage - the legs and bill are yellow and the buff chest and head feathers.
Winter plumage cattle egret by Mike Langham (rspb-images.com)
The feathers are all white, legs darker and the bill yellow.
Little egret by Mike Langham (rspb-images.com)
The little egret has all white feathers, a longer black bill, and black legs with very distinct yellow feet.