Great Egret

Great Egret (Ardea alba) is a tall, entirely white heron with a long neck, yellow bill and dark legs outside its brief breeding ornamentation. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It hunts fish, amphibians and other wetland prey in shallow water and wet grassland, and usually builds a stick nest in a tree colony near water. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. Japanese records place it within the country's documented avifauna as a resident, migrant or visitor (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).