Which is the Real Image? Egret at Sunrise

Below are 4 images.

Only one is real. I know this because I took it myself.

My photo is of an egret on the hunt for breakfast at sunrise along the banks of the Mississippi River near Alton, IL.

The other 3 images are AI-generated. I created them using Ideogram.ai and ChatGPT.

Which one do you think is the real image? See the answer below!

The real image of the egret is:

Image #1

Some clues that give away the AI images:

✅ 1. The Bird Itself: Not a Great Blue Heron

• #1 (REAL): The bird in the real photo is a Great White Egret, which has a more slender build and lacks the shaggy chest plumes and bulkier profile of a Great Blue Heron.
• AIArtificial Intelligence (AI) is basically when computers get smart—really smart. Imagine if your c... More Clue: When I asked AI to describe the real image (I use this description to create the AI images), it assumed the bird is a Great Blue Heron. Which it isn’t. But all three AI images (#2, #3, #4) depict birds with the heavier bodies, thicker necks, and stringy chest feathers typical of Great Blue Herons.

✅ Lesson: This is a powerful example of AI image tools “hallucinating” details based on assumptions — in this case, labeling the real egret as a heron and generating matching birds to fit the wrong species.

---

💧 2. Water Behavior and Reflection

• #1 (REAL):
  • The reflections are irregular, rippled, and don’t perfectly mirror the bird — especially the legs and beak area.
  • There’s visible texture in the water, including tiny droplets trailing off the beak and realistic disruption from the leg movements.
• AI:
  • #2 and #4 have reflections that are too smooth and symmetrical, like digital cutouts.
  • #3 tries to show ripple interaction, but it’s oddly isolated and doesn’t affect the full reflection.

---

✨ 3. Feather and Silhouette Accuracy

#1: The silhouette is clean and anatomically correct, with no excessive fringe or artificial exaggeration of feathers. The tail and wing tips are soft and subtle.

AI:

#2 and #3 both show overly dramatic, wispy feathers on the chest or tail — likely an overcorrection for “realism.”

#4’s head looks cartoonishly oversized, and the feather outline is too bold and smoothed.

Egrets vs Herons vs Cranes

Unless you’re a birder, it’s tough to tell the difference between the main types of wading birds (clearly even AI can’t tell the difference!).

This video provides a great overview of the differences between these majestic birds:

More From the Senior Tech Cafe ‘Real or AI?’ Challenge

You can check out our archive of ‘Real or AI?’ challenges here