Information
There are two plumage colour forms; an all-white morph and a dark grey morph; intermediate morphs also occur. The white morph is similar in general appearance to the Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), but has a thicker bill, duller legs, and a less elegant appearance. The grey morph is unlikely to be confused with any other species within the range of this egret.
Habitat
Rocky or sandy shores and reefs. Also other coastal habitats such as estuaries, mudflats, saltmarshes, mangroves, tidal creeks and lagoons. From sea-level - 300 m.
Bahrain (B) (P), Burkina Faso (B), Cameroon, Côte dIvoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-bissau (B), India, Iran [Islamic Republic of] (B) (NB), Iraq (B), Israel, Jordan (NB), Kenya, Kuwait, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Oman (B) (NB), Pakistan, Qatar, Sâo Tomé e Principe, Saudi Arabia (B) (NB), Senegal (B), Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania [United Republic of], Togo, United Arab Emirates (B) (NB) (P), USA, Yemen (P).
Vagrant to Anguilla, Antigua And Barbuda, Barbados, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Dominica, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Rwanda, South Africa, Spain, St Kitts And Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda.
Population
Estimated population is 37,000 - 220,000 (2010).
Subspecies
Possibly three subspecies, but this is open to discussion.
Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) and Dimorphic Egret (Egretta dimorpha) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) have been lumped into Egretta garzetta following Kushlan and Hancock (2005) who also lump Western Reef-Egret (Egretta gularis) with Egretta garzetta. The latter treatment is under review by the BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group.
Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Little Egret (Egretta garzetta).
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
gularis (Bosc, 1792) - Coastal western Africa, from Mauritania to Gabon. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Little Egret (Egretta garzetta).
dimorpha Hartert, 1914 - Eastern, Madagascar. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Dimorphic Egret (Egretta dimorpha).
schistacea (Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1828) - Coastal eastern Africa to Red Sea, Persian Gulf, western, southern and south-eastern India. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Little Egret (Egretta garzetta).
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