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Intermediate Egret
Mesophoyx/Egretta intermedia
Plumed Egret, Short-billed Egret, Bangau Kendi (Malay)

Intermediate Egrets eat small fish, frogs and insect. They stalk for their prey on mud, grass or shallow water.

They prefer to hunt in freshwater (marshes, cultivated fields), but are also found in mangroves, mudflats, estuaries. They prefer to roost in reedbeds, but will also roost in mangroves.

Intermediate Egrets are less common than the Little or Great Egrets. But they often hunt and roost with these other egrets as well as other herons. They are often confused with the Great Egret, but their noticeably shorter bills help to sort things out.

Breeding: Intermediate Egrets breed far north of the Asian subcontinent, with some resident populations in Indochina, Myanmar and Southwest China. They do not breed in Singapore.
Mangrove and wetland wildlife at
Sungei Buloh Nature Park
Main features:Medium (68-71cm), closer to Little than Great Egret; bill noticeably shorter, yellow; legs and toes black.

Adult: Summer/ breeding: short breast plumes, long back plumes; bill black.
non-breeding adult
Photo by
Morten Strange
Winter/non-breeding: bill yellow with blackish tip.

Call: A quiet bird. Described as a deep kroa-kr when taking off.

Status in Singapore: Common winter visitor throughout, including North offshore islands.

World distribution: Africa through Asia to Japan and Australia.

Similar birds:
Little Egret (Egretta garzetta): Intermediate lacks their yellow feet.
Great Egret (Egretta alba): Intermediate has shorter bill and lacks the Great Egret's obvious neck kink. Intermediate has short bill, no obvious neck kink, no breeding plumes on its nape (only on breast).

Classification: Family Ardeidae. World 65 species, Singapore 17 species.
REFERENCES
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Nature's Niche
  • Morten Strange, "A Photographic Guide to Birds of Malaysia and Singapore: including Southeast Asia, the Philippines and Borneo", Periplus, 2000 (p. 52: description, voice, habits, distribution, status, photo).
  • Morten Strange, "Tropical Birds of Malaysia and Singapore", Periplus Editions, 2000 (p. 6-7: habits, habitat, photo).
  • David R Wells, "The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula: Vol. 1 (Non-Passarines)", Academic Press, 1999 (p. 85-86: identification, distribution map, habits, habitat, migration, conservation).
  • Lim Kim Seng, "Pocket Checklist of the Birds of the Republic of Singapore", Nature Society (Singapore), 1999 (Abundance, status, Chinese and Malay names).
  • Lim Kim Seng and Dana Gardner, "Birds: An Illustrated Field Guide to the Birds of Singapore", Sun Tree Publishing Ltd., 1997 (p. 84: identification, status in Singapore, distribution, diagram, number of species).
  • G W H Davison and Chew Yen Fook, "A Photographic Guide to Birds of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore", New Holland Publishers Ltd., 1995 (p. 16: identification, status in Singapore, distribution, photo).
  • Morten Strange and Allen Jeyarajasingam, "Birds: A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore", Sun Tree Publishing, 1993 (p.111: description, distribution, habits, habitat, photo).
 
By Ria Tan, 2001