Birds of Singapore
by the Bird Society of Singapore
Egretta eulophotes
Family: Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns · Status: Uncommon migrant · Size: 68 cm · Conservation: Vulnerable
Breeds in southeast China and Korea; winters in the Philippines, the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Borneo and Sumatra.
Non-breeding adult has all-white plumage with dark loral skin and greenish-yellow legs and feet. Bill is dark brown with orange-yellow on the base of upper mandible and the basal half of lower mandible. Breeding adult has head plumes, bluish loral skin, black legs and yellow feet, and bill becomes entirely orange-yellow. While rather unmistakable in breeding plumage, in non-breeding plumage, most easily confused with Little Egret and white morph Pacific Reef Heron. In non-breeding plumage, told apart from Little Egret by thicker bill, pale loral skin, greenish-yellow legs and orange-yellow on bill. Told apart from white morph Pacific Reef Heron by longer neck, sharper bill, longer and thinner legs, and downward kink of upper edge of loral skin in front of the eye (compared to upper edge usually straight in Pacific Reef Heron).
Mudflats and shallow coastal waters; also mangrove edges and estuaries.
Feeds actively. Often runs, flies and darts across mudflats in search of food.