White, slate-dark or occasionally mottled: the reef egret comes in more than one plumage.
- Local names
- ’Otu’u
- Other names
- Aigrette sacrée
About this species
The Pacific reef egret measures about 58 cm from bill to tail and has yellow-green legs and feet. White and dark grey birds are the common forms; a rarer mottled form is also described in the French guide. The English account describes white birds as more frequent locally.
Small fish and crustaceans form part of its diet, alongside insects and lizards.
The egret is a resident landbird on Tetiaroa. It breeds across French Polynesia’s archipelagos, although the atoll’s original guide reported no confirmed local nest. A local breeding record remains unconfirmed in that account.
Elsewhere, nesting can take place throughout the year, on the ground or in shrubs and trees, sometimes in groups of up to a dozen birds. A nest of small branches holds two or three pale blue eggs, approximately 4.4 × 3.4 cm. Both parents incubate for 25–28 days and care for the chicks until they fly at five to six weeks old.
In the traditions recorded by Teuira Henry, the egret embodied Rua nu‘u, whose name evokes a source of armies. An account tells of a person who offended the bird having their neck twisted until their face looked backwards. Humbly admitting the offence before the image of the god or bird was the remedy in the story.
