Tropical Audubon Society

South Florida’s Voice of Conservation

I recently spotted a wading bird in the sandbar flats in Stuart Florida near the inlet. Unfortunately, I was wading out into the water and did not bring my phone to capture a photograph. But hopefully the mystery can be solved with just a description of what I saw.
The bird was much taller and robust then a little blue heron or a tri-colored heron. It was much smaller than a great blue heron. It was about the same height as a great egret, but it's body and neck were more robust and I'm certain it would have weighed more than a great egret. It's legs were long and black ( dark). It's bill was dark also but I could not see well enough to see if it was bicolored.
Sibley's guide to birds says a little blue heron is about 12 ounces and a great egret is about 2 pounds. This bird was bulkier and looked like it would be a little over the weight of a great egret. But not the way a big great blue heron. It's color was a soft white (not stark bright white like a great egret) its back, shoulders and wings were a very very pale gray. Not the gray of a great blue heron. So much about this bird makes me think of a reddish egret. Except a couple of things. Sibley says a reddish egret is only about 1 pound. I feel strongly that this bird would weigh about the weight of a roseate spoonbill and definitely more than an ibis. Also, I have never seen a reddish egret with this coloring. They are either white morph and all white or a dark morph with the reddish neck and the gray back and shoulders. This bird was a mix between a white morph and a dark morph. It did not have the stringy shaggy plumes in the chest. But… I did manage to watch it do a quick little hop to the right and left and up its wings wet like a reddish egret would do. This bird has me stumped.