Western Reef Egret
Western Reef Egret in The Netherlands
On 1st August 2017 a juvenile Western Reef Heron Egretta gularis was found fishing along the banks of Lake Oostvoorne at 51.55 N 04.03E in the Dutch delta. Western Reef Egrets have been found in Europe before , Hungary,France, Italy and Spain, and in all cases dark morhps were involved and considered to belong to the nominate race gularis from West Africa. All white individuals are considered to belong to the subspecies schistacea from the Middle East which have occurred as far north as Eilat, Israel.
For records of the race gularis in Europe see here :
http://www.birdingalbufera.es/files/recursos/ficheros/Reproduccion_gularis00_pdf.pdf For pictures of the race schistacea see here: https://radioactiverobins.com/archive/egretta%20garzetta/egrettagarzetta2.htm Little Egret Egretta garzetta for comparison see here: https://radioactiverobins.com/archive/egretta%20garzetta/indexegrettagarzetta1.htm https://radioactiverobins.com/archive/egretta%20garzetta/indexegrettagarzetta2%20-%20.htm
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