Both Blue Herons

For Throwback Thursday, here's a bird I rarely encounter along with a bird I frequently encounter. The 1st 2 pictures are of a Little Blue Heron while the last picture is of a Great Blue Heron.

Notice how dark all over the Little Blue Heron is, with its purple-maroon head and slaty-blue body. Wait, that's not what you're seeing? Sorry, that was a description of an adult Little Blue Heron; juveniles start out looking all white, and could be confused with a smallish Great Egret. In fact, the main reason I didn't make that mistake was because I had heard that a Little Blue Heron had been sighted here, so I was halfway to the right ID before I even saw it.

Having said that, there are differences between Great Egrets and juvenile Little Blue Herons:

  • Size: Normally I'd hesitate to even mention this since judging size from a distance can be error-prone. But in this case (see below) there was a Great Blue Heron standing nearby to use as a reference.
  • Bill: The bill of the Great Egret should be almost entirely yellow. In this individual, the beak starts as a very light gray with quite a bit of black near the tip.
  • Legs: The legs of the Great Egret should be basically black. In the 2nd picture you can see a little of the heron's right leg, and it's certainly not black.

As I've mentioned before, you shouldn't get too hung up about differentiating herons and egrets since all egrets are herons. Furthermore, despite the Little Blue Heron having a name so similar to the Great Blue Heron, the Great Blue Heron is much more closely related to the Great Egret than to the Little Blue Heron.

August 27, 2019 at Duke Farms
Photo 50288032, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

August 27, 2019 at Duke Farms
Photo 50288037, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

In the 1st picture you might have noticed a reflection in the water of another bird; it was this Great Blue Heron. Since I usually see Great Blue Herons alone I suspect they prefer not to forage around similar wading birds. Although the Great Blue Heron may not have liked having another bird (especially a juvenile that probably makes mistakes like being too loud or moving too fast), but AFAIK it tolerated its smaller cousin.

August 27, 2019 at Duke Farms
Photo 50288014, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Northern Watersnake

Image
This April I went to Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge with the hope (among other hopes) of seeing the Northern Watersnakes during mating season. There were 2 problems with this: I think it was slightly late in the season for this. The boardwalk trail where I had seen them in the past was partially closed due to repairs. So although I didn't see any of the 2+ intertwined snakes that I'd seen in the past, but there were still Northern Watersnakes warming themselves in the sun: April 13, 2023 at Great Swamp Photo 272117862, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) And here's another one coming out of the water. April 13, 2023 at Great Swamp Photo 272119139, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
Read more

Female Brown-headed Cowbird

Image
Like quite a few birds, this bird is easier to identify when spotted with her significant other ; she's a Brown-headed Cowbird . Due to their tendency to be monogamous plus plain old birds-of-a-feather behavior, I usually see them with prominently brown-headed males around, greatly improving my confidence in IDing them. My understanding is that Brown-headed Cowbirds are the only obligate brood parasites in my area. Obligate brood parasites have essentially lost all their parenting skills, and thus if they were ever unable to fool other birds into raising their young, they would (almost certainly) go extinct [1]. There are, however, other brood parasites in New Jersey. These are called facultative brood parasites, and these birds will usually raise their own offspring, but will also engage in brood parasitism. (Exactly when birds perform facultative brood parasitism seems variable; one source said it occurred when resources were scarce while another said it occurred when resource
Read more

Rooftop Turkey Vultures

Image
I met these Turkey Vultures by just walking out of my apartment. (I theoretically could have gotten a picture without going outside, but that extra layer of glass can degrade picture quality a little.) Although they don't show up on these rooftops daily, they're not an uncommon visitor to my apartment complex. Similar to this spot of the woods , I wouldn't expect this to be a great place to find carcasses. I'm thinking they're here mostly because: They don't have to worry much about predators up there. They get a pretty good view of the area in case something should happen to succumb. (This apartment was near the top of a hill, providing a better view than most of the other apartments.) Since this picture was from February, it's probably a slightly warmer spot, especially near those furnace vent pipes. Although these are Turkey Vultures, it's also not unusual to see Black Vultures up there too. February 28, 2023 at Finderne Photo 264703396, (c) jpviole
Read more