Little Egret

Another bird very difficult to separate from its close neighbour, the Chinese Egret. Both are the same size with black bills and a pinkish/yellowish base to the lower mandible, usually covering less than half on the Little and more than half on the Chinese. Little usually has Black legs and yellow feet, and Chinese has black to dark yellow/green legs and feet but both are rather variable. I have seen Little Egrets in Spain where the yellow extends well up the tarsus, sometimes looking like a black topcoat has flaked off. Much of this can be compounded by the fact that the legs, feet and bulls can get covered in mud! Also when the Little goes into breeding plumage the legs can get paler.