On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Happy Monday!
Albatrossity
Well, it is the end of the summer, and most of the birds here in Flyover Country are laying low, molting, recuperating after raising a batch of two of young’uns, and generally not being very cooperative photographically. So I don’t have enough good local images (10) to fill up a post, and I have not traveled anywhere recently with the camera. I have plans for an Arizona trip in late August, and a California trip in late September, but future trips don’t really help fill out an On The Road post today.
So I have put together a couple of posts with a group theme, and that group is Herons and Egrets Of The World. I certainly have not been to all the corners of the world, and I certainly have not seen all the herons and egrets, even in the places that I have visited, but I do have quite a few decent images, collected over the years. Herons and egrets are favorites of bird photographers for a lot of reasons. There are lots of them, but they are also are large, conspicuous, and tend to be found in wide-open sunny habitats. They have some interesting behaviors and lifestyles as well. So here are 10 herons or egrets, from various places around the world, to bide us over until I can get on the road again!
Most North American birders are very familiar with the large heron known as the Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias). Last week’s post featured one of these as well. We’ll start here, however, because these birds have closely related large cousins in most parts of the world, and I have some images of some of those. Click here for larger image.
In most of South America one can find this species, the Cocoi Heron (Ardea cocoi), which is the largest heron species on that continent. Ranging from Panama to Tierra del Fuego, and overlapping in range with wintering Great Blue Herons in northern South America, its solid black cap and white neck make it easy to identify. Click here for larger image.
The most common analogue of the Great Blue Heron in the Old World is the Gray Heron (aka Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea). Smaller than the Great Blue or Cocoi Heron, it is very similar, plumage-wise, to the former. But it lacks the chestnut epaulets and thighs of that species. Some birds from Europe winter in Africa, but there are also year-round resident populations in Africa, and this is likely to be one of those. The photo was taken in May, when nearly all of the migrant birds should have gone back north. Click here for larger image.
Among the smaller herons, this Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea) is one of the most beautiful. And it is unusual among the herons in another respect; the adult and immatures have very different plumages. The hatch-year birds are all white, the second-year birds are a splotchy blue-gray and white (aka Calico Heron), and the adults, like this one, are dark gray with a purplish-red head and neck. Click on the link above to see those immature plumages. And click here for a larger version of this image.
Another handsome smaller heron is the Tricolored Heron (nee Louisiana Heron, Egretta tricolor). It is found in the southeastern US (occasionally wandering north as far as southern Canada), but is more common in Central America. Sadly, it appears to be declining in its North American range. Click here for larger image.
Another member of the genus Egretta, the Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens), is also in decline in North America. Found along the US and Mexican Gulf Coasts, as well as the Pacific coast of Mexico and northern Central America, it has some extremely active methods of foraging. Its darting,, hopping, and umbrella-fishing behaviors make it easy to ID at great distances. Click here for larger image.
A much less active forager, the Striated Heron (Butorides striata) is the South American (and Old World plus Australia) counterpart of the Green Heron, which is familiar to many North American birders. Both Striated and Green Herons share a most unheron-like characteristic; they both like to keep their feet dry while they hunt. If they do forage in water, it is typically very shallow (less than an inch or two deep). Click here for larger image.
This extremely handsome South American heron is the Whistling Heron (Syrigma sibilatrix). The pink bill and blue mascara are complemented by a distinctive metallic whistle. Although it is endemic to South America, there are actually two quite disjunct populations there. One is restricted to northern Colombia and Venezuela, the other is found in the Pantanal area of Brazil and Paraguay, and its range extends down to Uruguay. The populations have distinctive plumages, but as far as I can tell, there are no current efforts to split them into two species. Click here for larger image.
The American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) has been heard by many North American birders; its eerie ventriloqual calls ring out over marshes, and give rise to interesting colloquial names for the bird, like “thunder-pumper” and “stake driver”. But as easy as it is to hear, it is a hard bird to see and photograph, since it is crepuscular, relies on patience and stealth when foraging, and freezes among the tall reeds if it sees a human interloper. Click here for larger image.
Our last bird for the day comes from New Zealand; it is also found in Australia and New Guinea. It’s the aptly-named White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae). Found on shorelines, in marshes, and even in seasonally flooded pastures and fields, it is fairly easy to see if you should ever find your way down under. Click here for larger image.
OzarkHillbilly
Herons, my ever faithful float companions, gotta love them..
VeniceRiley
Where are Mrs. Otis’ Egrets?
If th re isn’t such a thing, there ought to be!
raven
I had to think of this work as I read the description of birds on the Missouri River in “The Indifferent Stars Above” by Daniel James Brown.
Salty Sam
So many herons when we lived along the Texas coastal marshes. It became a running joke when the wife would point out “Look! A Great Blue Heron!” and I’d reply “Meh- it’s just a pretty good heron…” <rimshot!>
J.
Saw lots of Great Blues, Little Blues, and Tricolor Herons, as well as Reddish Egrets, Little Green Herons, and Night Herons on Sanibel. Lots of good birdwatching there. Or was. (Though I’ve heard the birds and turtles are back.)
SteveinPHX
@VeniceRiley: That’s great! We need to find a candidate bird and lobby the appropriate authorities!
Thanks Albatrossity for the photographs.
Another Scott
Thanks for the pictures!
Did you get a chance to see Betty’s Reddish Egret? Google Image Search seems to think it’s a Little Blue Heron. Another site I found said that one has to look at its hunting behavior and not rely on the coloring. Maybe all the greenery in Betty’s picture confused the Google algorithms?
Birds are weird.
Cheers,
Scott.
Geo Wilcox
We have a breeding colony of Great Blues not far from our house. The young like to fish in our pond and I have a series of photos of one spearing a fish and swallowing it whole. We also have a pair of breeding Little Greens that live in our eastern red cedar stand of trees. We hear them in there all the time. They have been here since we put the pond in over 25 years ago, not the same birds of course but the original pairs descendants.
Ken
I often see herons and/or egrets* fishing in the river near me. They are very cautious birds, and go on the alert if I stop to watch them or take photos. If I move closer, they will often fly away.
* I can’t tell them apart; some are white and some dark gray.
Albatrossity
@Another Scott: I think it is a Little Blue Heron too. The bluish base to the bill is consistent with that ID, and inconsistent with an ID of Reddish Egret.
Luc
This is a heroic collection! Thanks
KatKapCC
Beautiful shots!!
Yutsano
“Egrets, I’ve had a few…”
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
Late to the party but thanks for the great shots and commentary 👏
wombat probability cloud
Thanks, a beautiful comparison. We used to call bitterns “mud lunks” (in Central Wisconsin, 1950s-60s).
StringOnAStick
I love how you got the classic American Bittern pose. Such distinctive birds! All these herons are wonderful!
Went out on patio fitted this morning and noticed a flick of CA quail lounging under the blueberry shrubs in our veggie garden area, that’s excellent cover for them