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#89809
My niece was fishing at the Chilliwack River today and took a video of white bird. Her description was 'About 4 feet tall and short beak". I asked her what colour it was and she said brownish white.

The video is not great, but I wondered if this was a Great Egret. Let me know if you have any other suggestions. White Morph Great Blue Heron? Sandhill Crane?

Edit: Location is at the end of Wilson Road.


Powerkey

#89811
Hmmm, it is a little difficult to determine exactly what it is but I would say a Great Blue Heron and perhaps the lighting is making it appear more white than usual.
I’d be interested to hear what others have to say though.
#89812
Difficult to determine from the video.

Great blue is the closest match but the light/white colour and possible browish wash do not line up. I would expect to see some kind of marking for a Great Blue Heron. Not a white morph as there are limited to Florida and do not occur here.

For SandHill Crane, wrong habitat -- they are found out on the flat marsh and on open fields. I would not expect to find a crane perched on a rock by the river.

Great Egret, possible however they are not brownish. From the video, I think I am seeing a darkish bill, so maybe a juvenile great egret? Adults have a yellow bill. Can't see the legs clearly so unknown if they are dark (great egret) or lighter (GBHE).

Cattle Egret, possible, I can't tell the size by the video. They would appear shorter so think they are ruled out.

It would help if we had more details. River location, what the bird was doing, anything else in terms of what it looked like?

Cheers,
#89813
Location is here.
49.079687, -121.923132

My niece is not an experienced birder, but her estimate was about 4’ tall. Not likely a cattle egret or other small egret.

Her exact response to the question about colour was ‘Brownish greyish white’. I think we can interpret that as not bright white or dark gray. Probably a muddy white.

She said the beak was short. Not that I would necessarily trust that statement, but it might imply a juvenile.

No other information about its behavior, unfortunately.
#89814
A bit more to go on, thanks.

I think we can consider Great Blue Heron or Great Egret. These two are the only 4' tall birds that could be on the river at that location. Map coordinates locate in an area where there is open gravel bars nearby so both species could show up in this area however I don't know if Great Egret would go up on the rock bank like that.

Of the two, I would go with a juvenile Great Blue Heron. Not 100% convinced because the video shows a whitish heron like bird.

Have a look at this video to compare.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOuylKj0N2Y

Cheers,
#89832
Wow oh Wow, what a fantastic find!
I did not consider a Little Blue Heron (a juvenile) but I think you’re right. In some ways I hope it turns up again in a publicly accessible place so we can all see it, but in other ways I hope not because it will be mobbed by photographers from all over the area. I hope he can find his way back home because he is way off course.
This is such a rare find...congratulations!
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