From: <SFBirds...> <SFBirds...> On Behalf Of Adam Winer
Sent: Wednesday, September 4, 2024 10:02 AM
To: <keith.maley...>
Cc: SF Birds <SFBirds...>
Subject: Re: [SFBirds] Western Cattle Egret - Crissy Field
Throwing something out there... while the odds are extremely high that any Cattle Egret in San Francisco is a Western Cattle Egret, I don't think it's quite 100%.
Eastern Cattle Egret has been recorded on Midway Island (nw Hawaiian Islands), and while Midway is a long, long way from California, it's amazing that it got to Midway in the first place! Cattle Egrets have a remarkable dispersal ability. It's not inconceivable that an Eastern Cattle Egret might make its way to North America. Unfortunately, the identification criteria for a non-breeding Cattle Egret are tricky - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318600580_Subspecific_identification_and_status_of_Cattle_Egret - you'd be looking for a longer-legged, longer-billed bird, and that's something most easily accomplished with a side-by-side comparison. And that's cruelly unlikely to be an option here in SF.
