Chinese Egret

The Chinese egret, or Swinhoe's egret, is a threatened egret of east Asia, first described by Robert Swinhoe in 1860. It averages 68 cm in height, and the plumage is white throughout its life and looks like the little egret's. Outside the breeding season the bill is dusky with a tannish peach base, the lores and legs are yellow-green and the iris yellow. In the breeding season adults grow a luxuriant crest sometimes over 11 cm long, and long lanceolate plumes on the breast and back extending beyond the tail (Wikipedia, general species account). (Wikipedia, general species account).

The period of spring migration is therefore rather short, and most birds are thought to arrive in their Korean breeding colonies without staging anywhere along the Korean coast. The autumn migration is rather more leisurely with many egrets appearing to move southward along the west coast during August and September, before departing Korea probably out through the southwest of the peninsula across the Yellow Sea. (Wikipedia, general species account).