The bird was found by Kiah Jasper and Alfred Raab earlier this morning. But they had another commitment and couldn't stick around. Kiah messaged me that they had found a small heron at Oliphant (Little Blue, or possibly Reddish Egret, or something else).
I zipped down and found the bird at 8:22h feeding with a few Great Egrets in a marshy inlet directly across the road from the Oliphant Fen boardwalk (on Shoreline Road about 1.5 km north of the Oliphant Marina). I studied the bird but was hampered somewhat by heavy rainshowers for the next 40-50 minutes, taking photos when conditions permitted. The bird later flew around the point to the next marshy inlet, about 500m to the south, just north of the Oliphant Marina (but out of view of the marina). I had work commitments starting at 10 a.m. and ran out of time to post more widely, but managed to get the photos and ebird checklists from both sites online. Although I had my doubts, I leaned towards Little Blue Heron because of the amount of white in the plumage that seemed (or was) apparent in the field, but perhaps not quite so evident in the photos. Puzzling were overall size (seemed a bit large for LBHE), bill size shape and colour, and feeding behaviour -- darty, quick -- more indicative of Reddish Egret, but I leaned towards the more likely species. My eBird i.d. was tentative (I added, "I think!" to the original description) -- unfortunately there's no way to post uncertain i.d.'s on eBird in a way that would flag them as potential rarities (except as "heron sp."). I last saw it at 10:15 (i.e. I was really late for my work commitments) at the second location, and it was still there when I left. I wasn't able to check on the situation again until later this aft when I saw that consensus from a number of excellent birders seems to be that this is Ontario's first Reddish Egret. Hope the bird sticks around for others to see it! Jarmo _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
