20/11/05 Intermediate egret, Ardea intermedia, at Muddy Creek/Ngaruroro River Estuary area, Hawkes Bay

Following the pelagic we organised for 19 November 2005 out of Napier, a group of five birders - Tim Barnard, Colin Miskelly, Steve Wood, Roger McNeill, and Frank Antram - managed to find an Intermediate egret in a small swale beide the road between the Ngaruroro and Tutaekuri River Bridges. The bird was seen well with lots of photos taken (see below for one taken by Tim Barnard), and was quite approachable.

This followed on from the sighting of a 'white' egret several weeks earlier by Brent, at Muddy Creek. The bird was seen at a distance, and just didn't seem right for a great egret, and definitely not the little egret that is still resident in the area. This was almost certainly the intermediate egret, and luckily Brent had mentioned this to Roger, who remembered this as soon as the bird was seen beside the road....

Several thorough searches for the bird during late December failed to find either the intermediate or little egrets, but another search in early January found the little egret in the vicinity.