Utah Crane ... or Egret?

by Judith
(Vernal, Utah)

Yesterday April 29, 2011 a pure white crane landed in the very top of a blue spruce. I live in Utah and have never seen this before. Pure white with a dark bill and flesh colored legs. Can anyone identify what I saw?

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This is the answer I received when I posed this question on the www.utahbirds.org website:

Hello Rod

The bird you described sounds like an Egret. We have 3 white Egret species in Utah. Great Egret, Snowy Egret and Cattle Egret. The description of dark bill and pale legs probably best fits the Snowy Egret.

Here are links to photos of the egrets we have here in Utah. Just copy and paste. Click the links at the top of each page for more pages of photos.

Snowy Egret - http://www.utahbirds.org/birdsofutah/BirdsS-Z/SnowyEgret.htm

Great Egret - http://www.utahbirds.org/birdsofutah/BirdsD-K/GreatEgret.htm

Cattle Egret - http://www.utahbirds.org/birdsofutah/BirdsA-C/CattleEgret.htm

Our common crane here in Utah is the Sandhill Crane. Sandhill Cranes are brown and grey. The only white crane in North America is the Whooping Crane which would be Very, VERY rare. Plus Cranes Never Land in Trees.

I hope this helps. Feel free to contact me if you have more questions. Or just to let me know if you figured out what the bird was

poorwill_@hotmail.com - Eric

Eric Huish
Pleasant Grove, UT