A medium-sized all-white egret of Australasia. It grows long breeding plumes on breast and shoulders and forages in shallow freshwater for fish, frogs and insects.
A medium-sized white heron. Breeding plumes extend from breast and scapulars; the bill turns reddish, facial skin green and legs dark.
It feeds in shallow freshwater and rivers, taking fish, frogs and insects. Australian breeding records are October to April.
It uses inland freshwater marshes and river margins as well as suburban ditches and wet paddocks. Its feeding movements are slow and deliberate.
Outside breeding the relatively short, stout bill is yellow. The neck is about as long as the body and is usually held in an S-shaped curve.
The gape line ends roughly level with the back of the eye.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.