Long-legged, long-necked, big white birds are hard to miss. You’ll see them along the Santa Ana River, on golf courses, and at the edges of the Fairmount Park lakes. But you’ll also spot them flying overhead, eyeing the fish in a backyard koi pond, or perched atop phone poles near Riverside’s canals.
In Riverside, such birds aren’t storks, and they aren’t cranes. They’re egrets—members of the heron family, Ardeidae. Birds in that family fly with their necks folded into an “S,” while storks and cranes fly with their necks extended. Seeing a crane in Riverside is very rare (I once caught sight of cranes migrating overhead in my 40-plus years living here), and seeing a stork would be beyond extraordinary. The nearest population of our native Wood Stork, at the south end of the Salton Sea, is sparse.
Riverside is home to two different white egrets: the Snowy Egret and the Great Egret. Distinguishing between them can be a challenge for the beginning birder. Both are big and white. Both are egret-heron shaped. Both species are relatively common and easy to spot in and around Riverside’s wetlands…