Sighting a rare Melanistic cattle egret in my village

I was doing a routine evening walk inspection in my coconut plantation located in Puliampatti on 15/04/2015 (near Palladam, Tamilnadu). I noticed a rather strange looking Cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis). At first glance, it appeared as I it just walked out of a ditch as it was very dirty in appearance. Cattle egrets have a yellow beak, Dark legs and have a stark white plumage. In their breeding season, they develop a yellow shade in the feathers of the head, neck and rump area. However, this bird was different as it appeared mostly black. Though it puzzled me at that time, I continued my walk assuming that it must somehow got dirty. Later that evening, we had a heavy downpour. When I got up the following morning, I decided to visit my farm with my camera as I know that the birding is usually good the morning after a heavy downpour. I happened to come across the egret I saw the previous day. I immediately knew that there was something strange about this bird as it looked exactly in the same manner as I saw it yesterday. Even if it somehow gotten dirty, the dirt must have gotten washed off yesterday. The other oddity I noticed about this bird was that it was foraging in isolation.  Most cattle egrets forage in the company of other cattle egrets. I suspected that it could be a melanistic Cattle egret. I immediately took a few record shots of the bird with my camera. I immediately shared the photo with Coimbatore nature society, which I am a part of. Some senior members confirmed my suspicion and they suggested that I should also consult with other experts. I posted the image in several groups in Facebook and also sent an email to SACON to verify my suspicions. Dr Mahindran Myilswamy of SACON confirmed that it was indeed a melanistic cattle egret. Aberrant colourations, such as melanism, leucism and albinism, have been well studied but very few records of birds exist. Melanism is a condition where there is excess of melanin pigmentation. Melanism has been well documented in animals but extremely rare in birds. There are very few records of melanistic cattle egrets in the world.  This news has piqued the excitement and interest of Birdwatchers and ornithologists across the country.