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Hola,
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There is a?dark-billed egret at Chincoteague?that has seemingly been around since at least late May.? The first documentation I've seen of it was from Pat Mann, who submitted the sighting to eBird, and sent me along his images from 24 May.? I have heard that Adam D'Onofrio also described this bird at some point, and Denise Ryan also photographed it in late May.? In the last few days, Rexanne Bruno, and Michael Lester have also sent me images of the bird.?
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Having sent the images around to a few folks, it seems like the bird might be a subspecies of Great Egret found in Europe, Ardea alba alba.?
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There are several subspecies of dark-billed Great Egrets:
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A. alba alba, found in Central Europe to Central Asia.
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A. a. melanorhyncha, Africa south of the Sahara and Madagascar.
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A. a. modesta, southern and eastern Asia to Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand.?
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A. a. alba seems most likely, as it is migratory, geographically closest, and seems plausible that it could cross the ocean on trade winds with Little Egrets and Cattle Egrets.? Key questions are:
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1.? Does loral skin color or any other field mark support this as A. a. alba?
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2.? Despite geographical probability, are any other taxa of Great Egret eliminated here by the following images??
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3.? Are there any known records or documentation of presumed A. a. egretta (the North American subspecies)?showing completely dark bills?
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4.? Are there any known records of A. a. alba from North America?? Caribbiean perhaps?? A. a. modesta has occurred in the Aleutians.?
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Images from Pat Mann, Rexanne Bruno, and Michael Lester have been posted to Bill Hubick's fine site, linked here:
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http://www.billhubick.com/others/va_egret.html
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Images by Denise Ryan are at Larry Meade's website?here:
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http://www.uberlarry.smugmug.com/gallery/2498169_rgafW/1/303652728_xnXu8#303654690_MoG5E
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Anyone that has seen this bird, or does see this bird, is encouraged to document it and send that information on to VARCOM.?
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Cheers,
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Todd
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Todd Michael Day
Jeffersonton, Virginia
Culpeper County, USA
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