A Green Cattle Egret

[Shawn Marques]

I visited a nearby rookery and within the many nesting cattle egrets, and to my surprise, there were at least two green- colored cattle egrets. The color in this image is pretty accurate. Has anyone seen anything like this before? The Sibley guide pictures two rare aberrant plumages of cattle egret, but neither of them are green.

Canon 40d, Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x
1/50s @ f/8, ISO 500
Gitzo carbon fiber tripod, Wimberley head

[joel quenneville]

Sharp photo with a nice diffuse background. I like the composition and the head angle of this bird which ensures good eye contact. No problems for me.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Very nice pose, light and BG. I'm not too familiar with this species but I haven't seen a green one, either. Could it be from algae in the water? I would give it a bit more space all around.

[Mike Godwin]

Nice shot Shawn... I like it as is! To answer your question, yes, I have seen several of these "green" Cattle Egret over the years, some with much more green coloration than this one. It is not from algae, as these birds are not waders, but feed in fields and grass eating insects.

Mike Godwin
Gatorland

[Fabs Forns]

Extremely interesting, Shawn, glad you posted it.
I've seen aberrants here at Wako, a couple every year, but they are not green.

Thanks for sharing!