Chinese Egret

The Chinese egret averages 68 cm in height. 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, like the little egret's aigrettes (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds on small islands off the coasts of far eastern Russia, North Korea, South Korea and mainland China, and all recent breeding records are from offshore islands. The cached account is short and gives no detail of its diet, behaviour or occurrence in India. SoIB 2023 lists it as a winter migrant of wetland that eats invertebrates, without a priority category (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).