#reef heron

[redhawk0123]

クロサギ Egretta sacra

2019.10.20 茨城県

[drhoz]

#3798 - Egretta sacra - Pacific Reef Heron

The best photo I managed to get, because the people walking down the beach ahead of me scared it off. At least I got a good enough look at it with the binoculars to confirm the ID, beforehand. It's unusual to get reef herons as far south as this, but they have been known from Rakiura Stewart Island even further south, so it's not unheard of.

Originally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae, as Ardea sacra. Egretta is derived from the Provençal French for the little egret, aigrette, a diminutive of aigron, "heron". In New Zealand, names include kākatai, matuku moana and matuku tai. It is known as belō in Fiji, matu'u in the Samoan Islands, and motuku in Niue, Tonga, and Wallis Island.

A shorebird found on the coast of Asia, most of Australia, many Pacific islands, and New Zealand. They feed on fish and invertebrates in shallow water, and during the day stand still with their wings spread to reduce reflections of the sun and attract fish to the shade.

They can be slaty grey or pure white, but there is little difference between the sexes.

Bushy Beach, Oamaru, Aotearoa New Zealand.