Sexes look alike but there is a grey and a white morph of this bird. The morphs inter breed.

I find that the leg colour is the best way to distinguish these birds from the other Egrets along with the face skin colour. That said please let me know if this is not a Reef Egret.

Both the leg and face skin are supposed to be a greenish yellow. More later on what I think the colour of the face skin colour of the grey morph is.

The grey morph also has a white stripe on the throat that you can clearly see above. The neck is long but the legs as you will see next are short and thick.

You usually see these birds on their own stalking their prey. However from September to January they form breeding colonies.

Very late one evening back in 2019 was the first time I really noticed this very different looking Egret. Up until then if I thought of an Egret I thought of a white bird.

Despite being about 200mm shorter than the Eastern Great Egret they have the same wingspan at about 950mm.

The eyes are yellow and the face skin is supposed to be a greenish yellow. Looks grey to me. The bill usually looks a slight pink grey to me with the grey morph.

They feed in the shallows along the shore line. They actively hunt whilst wading in the water or dropping down on their prey from rocks. For that reason you find them most active in the lower tides.

Their main food sources are fish and crustaceans. I see them catching little fish in the shallows often.

They get wispy nuptial feathers on the back, nape and breast.

They make a load croak when alarmed and a guttural call at the nest. Nest are formed on rock ledges or in low shrubs.