Yesterday this white bird was down the road at the retention pond/ swale that fills up when it rains a lot, and the rainy season is still going strong.

A little Great Egret? No, it was too small and the bill and legs were the wrong color. I think it’s a juvenile Little Blue Heron that will grow up to be a purply indigo blue.

Juveniles are entirely white, except for vague dusky tips to the outer primaries. Immatures molting into adult plumage are a patchwork of white and blue.

But apparently it’s easy to confuse juvenile LBHs with juvenile Snowy Egrets: link. Argh, birding is so hard!

The bird was wary of me and my wolfy dog. We didn’t stay long.

The temporary pond at the end of our street. The bird was a-way over there.

In the narrow “canals” along the main road, there were many, many tadpoles!

Addendum 10/6/17: I got ID help on a Facebook page, Hey, ABA… What’s this bird? The consensus is that it is a juvenile Little Blue Heron.