FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Re: Immature heron identification help

[PlanetWaves99@xxxxxxx]

In an effort to start some disscussion on the list, I'll mention a trick that 
famed Charles County (MD) lister George Jett once told me.........Hi George, 
if you're out there....;-)....
For immature night herons, bill color is opposite of head color (of the 
adult).  So a imm. YCNH will have a black bill and an imm. BCNH will have 
yellow in 
its bill.

Bart Hutchinson
Alexandira, VA


In a message dated 7/14/2003 5:25:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
hartal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:

> Subj: [va-bird] Immature heron identification help 
>  Date: 7/14/2003 5:25:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time
>  From: <A HREF="mailto:hartal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx";>hartal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx</A>
>  To: <A HREF="mailto:va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx";>va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx</A>
>  Sent from the Internet 
> 
> 
> 
> At around 130pm I was walking through a small stream park in my 
> neighborhood and was seeing and hearing the expected birds.  Then an 
> unusual shape caught my eye along the stream.
> 
> It was two small immature herons standing right next to each other.
> 
> I got a short look with my binos before the two birds flew up into the 
> trees and I lost them.  I don't have any experience with immature 
> herons, so I was not really sure what kind they were.   The eye reminded 
> me of Great Blue and that is what I thought they might be.  But when I 
> got home and tried to find some pictures and descriptions of immature 
> herons, everything indicated that an immature great blue would have a 
> black cap.  These birds did not.
> 
> So I headed back down to the park with my camera in hope that they would 
> still be in the same general area.  Well at least one of them was and I 
> got a picture (though not a great one).
> 
> I got to study the bird more the second time.   The head and breast of 
> the bird were a dirty white with fine brown streaking.  The other thing 
> I noticed was that the shape of the bill seems more like a night heron 
> than an great blue.  My wife and I have seen Yellow Crowned Night Herons 
> in this park on two occasions in the past.   Could these birds be 
> immature Yellow Crowns?
> 
> I went back a third time with my scope hoping to get some good pictures 
> but I could not find the birds.  I'll probably try again later.
> 
> Here is a link to the picture I managed to take this afternoon.  I would 
> appreciate inputs from those of you who know young herons.
> 
>   http://ahart.homeip.net/heron.jpg
> 
> -- allen hart
> -- Herndon, VA
> 
> 
> 
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