Medium Egret, a large white heron with long neck and powerful yellow bill, walking in grass.
Can be difficult to separate from Great Egret. Main differences:
Bill (and whole head shape) not as elongated and thin as Great. Bill has a diffuse black tip, but non-breeding Great is all yellow.
Neck looks quite thick, is not as extremely long and thin and the kink lacks the sharp S shape often shown by Great. The neck feathering has a shaggy look, especially at the base extending onto the front, where Great's looks smooth.
Hard to see in this photo but the legs are relatively short - this is actually not long grass in the photo.
Looking closely at the face, the yellowish bare area stops below the eye but on Great continues to a point behind the eye. The eye itself also looks large and bulging, whereas Great's looks relatively small.
Great prefers wet habitats, whereas Medium can often be found in dry grassy places like this.
The #birdoftheday theme today is #grounded, #birds on natural ground. Medium Egret prefers dry ground compared with Great's preferred wetland. See alt text for ID discussion.
#krabi #Thailand #birding #EastCoastKin #urbanBirding #birdsSeenIn2026
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