Snowy Egret Similar Species Comparison
Main SpeciesSnowy Egret
Breeding adult
Medium-sized snow white heron with a black bill and yellow feet.
© Evan Lipton / Macaulay LibraryMassachusetts, April 18, 2015Immature
Immature birds look similar to adults, but have dull yellowish green legs.
© Evan Lipton / Macaulay LibraryRhode Island, August 17, 2017Adult
Often eats insects attracted to washed up beach debris. While foraging, sometimes they vibrate their bills, sway their heads, or flick their wings. This video has no audio and was filmed in slow motion.
© Benjamin Clock / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, March 25, 2013Not all videos have sound
Breeding adult
During the breeding season, adult Snowy Egrets develop long, wispy feathers on their backs, necks, and heads.
© Ben Frueh / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, December 30, 2016Adult
Stalks, walks, or runs after fish, frogs, and aquatic invertebrates. Often uses its bright yellow feet to stir up the water or probe in the mud, rounding up prey before striking with its bill.
© John Sutton / Macaulay LibraryFlorida, March 20, 2016Adult
Medium-sized heron with a long neck and daggerlike bill. Entirely white with a yellow patch of skin in front of the eye.
© Evan Lipton / Macaulay LibraryMassachusetts, August 13, 2016Adult (with Great Egret)
Snowy Egrets are smaller than Great Egrets and have a black (not yellow) bill and yellow (not black) feet.
© DigiBirdTrek CA / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, July 08, 2017Habitat
Found in mudflats, beaches, and wetlands, but also forages in wet agricultural fields and along the edges of rivers and lakes.
© Jeanne-Marie Maher / Macaulay LibraryNew Hampshire, June 15, 2017Similar SpeciesLittle Blue Heron
Juvenile
Juvenile Little Blue Herons are all white like Snowy Egrets, but they have a thicker, gray-and-black bill. Their legs are dull yellow-green not black like Snowy Egrets. Little Blue Herons usually forage with a much more sedentary style than Snowy Egrets.
© Zak Pohlen / Macaulay LibraryIdaho, October 26, 2015Similar SpeciesWestern Cattle Egret
Breeding adult
Western Cattle Egrets are smaller and more compact, with shorter and thicker bills than Snowy Egrets. Their legs and bills are yellow, whereas Snowy Egrets’ are black.
© Luke Seitz / Macaulay LibraryMaine, May 27, 2017Similar SpeciesGreat Egret
Adult
Great Egrets are much larger than Snowy Egrets and have yellow-orange bills, whereas Snowy Egrets have a black bill.
© Alex Lamoreaux / Macaulay LibraryPennsylvania, August 17, 2016Similar SpeciesGreat Egret
Adult
In flight, Great Egrets have slower and deeper wingbeats than Snowy Egrets.
© Tom Johnson / Macaulay LibraryNew Jersey, July 25, 2017Similar SpeciesReddish Egret
Adult breeding white morph
In coastal areas, especially in Florida and along the Gulf Coast, watch out for white-morph Reddish Egrets. They are larger than Snowy Egrets, with two-toned pink-and-black bills.
© Jason Leifester / Macaulay LibraryTexas, April 20, 2017Rotate Your Device to Better Compare
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Species in This Family
Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns(Order: Pelecaniformes, Family: Ardeidae)
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