Slaty Egret

Egretta vinaceigula

Okavango. Lagoons and backwaters. Told by yellow legs and feet plus tawny throat.

Bitterns, Egrets, Herons

Not Endemic

Description

Uncommon, localised resident. In proportions like a slate-grey [Little Egret]. Distinguished from [Black Heron] by yellow lower legs and feet, longer wings and, at close range, buff foreneck and yellow eyes and facial skin. Plumes on the nape sometimes absent. Seen mostly singly in shallow, well-vegetated floodplains and river backwaters of the Okavango Delta, Linyanti and Chobe River regions of northern Botswana; a vagrant elsewhere.

Quick Facts

Bird Family

Water-associated birds with long bills and necks and long legs. When breeding, many species have long, filamentous plumes on their back or lower breast (or both), while others have more or less permanent long plumes on their napes. In flight, they tuck their heads into their shoulders, thus differing from storks, ibises and cranes. They seldom soar. Many herons are solitary in habit and secretive; others are gregarious and seen more frequently. Most perch in trees and nest in trees or reeds, or even on the ground. All have harsh, squawking voices heard mostly when flushed. Four comparative silhouettes represent (a): Dwarf Bittern; (b): Squacco Heron; (c): Little Egret; and (d): Grey Heron.