On 22 May Ed Sigda and Bruce Peterjohn found an ABA Code-4 Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), the European counterpart to Snowy Egret of the Western Hemisphere, at Fowler's Beach in Delaware.
LIttle Egret is a widespread breeder through much of the Old World and they mostly winter from Africa to India, southeastern Asia, and Australia. In the ABA Area, the majority of reports come from the Atlantic Coast from late-April to late-September. They are accidental in western Alaska and there are widespread reports from many island nations in the Western Hemisphere (ABA Checklist, 7th Edition, Pranty et al.).
The taxonomy of Little Egret has been controversial and until recently some authors lumped Western Reef-Heron and Intermediate Egret with Little Egret. In Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 1, the authors treat Little Egret as being polymorphic including the dark Western Reef-Heron. However, both the A.O.U. Check-list Committee and the ABA Checklist Committee list Little Egret and its closest relatives as separate species. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World separates Western Reef-Heron as a good species. The European range of this species is expanding and some authors predict that Little Egrets in North America may begin to expand in a manner similar to what has been occurring with this species in Europe.
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