https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/257590368
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Une nouvelle fiche aviaire, fruit d'une collaboration franco-québécoise, a été publiée ce matin, celle du grand
#héron.
DIDIERLAURENT Sylvie, FEY Laurent in : #DORIS ; 30/11/2024 :
Ardea herodias Linnaeus, 1758, https://doris.ffessm.fr/ref/specie/1628
Some more catching up (third of maybe four or five). This set a few pics of a very placid young Green Heron at Marine Nature Study Area, LI, NY. last Friday. This one landed quite close to a friend, and when I went over, it remained in its perch for at least 15 minutes. I mentioned that I hoped it would take off so I could get a couple of flight photos, but no luck. My fellow birder said, "alright, I'm going to walk up the path right past the Greenie, so maybe you'll get your shot." He did so, and the bird merely looked at him and did a brief "Bittern stance" (a behavior that reduces a Bittern's profile and allows concealment) and then went on stretching and preening, but didn't budge from that snag, although the other dude passed about 10 feet away from it. Finally, the Greenie descended very deliberately to the tidal pond to forage. We suspect that this was a particular heron that has started hanging out with Earl the Egret -- the semi-tame "mascot" at MNSA -- and emulating his behavior.
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#saltmarsh #Ardeidae
And from yesterday's salt-marsh visit, part 1. We'll start with some herons. I encountered this Black-crowned Night Heron at a fresh-water pond on my bike ride over to the preserve in Oceanside, NY. The juvenile, nearly fledged Yellow-crowned Night Herons were nesting in a tree in an intersection in a residential area. The adult Yellow-crowned had flown up to the railing of his foot-bridge, shoulder-plumes erect, in response to another YCNH feeding below. It flew down to challenge its conspecific, but after a bit of flapping, blinked first, leaving the other bird to feed in peace.
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Adult and juvenile (recently fledged) Green Herons today.
Marine Nature Study Area, Oceanside, NY
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#saltmarsh #GreenHeron #Ardeidae
Last Tuesday, I spent the afternoon at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, not far from JFK airport, in Queens, NY. To be specific, I spent about four hours in a blind at the edge of a small freshwater pond in this saltmarsh, mostly watching a Least Bittern and hoping it would come out into the open and closer to us. In the meantime, I appreciated the utility of a blind as a multitude of creatures disported around us. Here are a few shots of the Bittern, all heavily cropped and denoised. The Least Bittern, found in North America, is the smallest member of the Ardeidae (as listed by Birds of the World, which then describes the African Dwarf Bittern as smaller and lighter...). It is slightly larger than an American Robin (Bittern shown in the last shot conveniently posing with a Goldfinch). While not listed as endangered, its secretive nature makes counts difficult, and loss of marshland habitat poses a threat to this species.
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Doing the Greenie stretch...
I was motivated to dig a bit deeper, so I picked up the text I used when I taught a comparative vertebrate anatomy course some years ago (which got a herpetology guy interested in avian anatomy), and read that birds have heterocoelous cervical vertebrae, that is vertebrae with saddle-shaped joints at both ends that permit the neck to flex vertically and laterally, without compressing the spinal chord. According to this interesting blog (https://willoughbyart.blogspot.com/.../the-neck-is-lie.html), Ardeids in particular, also have numerous elongate vertebrae that function like spear-throwing sticks, permitting herons and egrets to make those forceful lunges at their prey. And unlike the larger members of the group, Green Herons, like other small Ardeids, have "lying necks," in which plumage conceals the s-curve, permitting the compact, streamlined contour of the bird when the neck is retracted. This is believed to be due to the greater need for smaller members of the family to conceal themselves from predators.
MNSA, Oceanside, NY
5.24.24
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Groomin' Greenie
Members of the Ardeidae (herons and egrets) have a special toe for grooming, called a pectinate toe, with a built-in comb on the toenail. I've circled the pectinate toe on the third shot. The blow-up is in the last picture.
This is another shot of one of the Green Herons that approached within 4-5 meters as it stalked small fish a few days ago. Lighting was not great (10:15 am, sunny), but the shot turned out pretty well, no cropping and minimal post-prod adjustments.
These interesting and attractive birds are about the size of an American Crow (which, in turn, is slightly larger than a Carrion Crow): just leggier and neckier. With loosely articulated cervicals, they can stretch their necks prodigiously. They are also known tool-users, employing twigs, leaves and insects to attract fish. Not considered endangered by conservation ngo's, nevertheless their numbers have declined by half since 1966 in line with the decline of their wetland habitats.
This Snowy Egret decided to land a few feet away from me to see what was so interesting.
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Hot pursuit!
There were three Green Herons present, today, in this section of the saltmarsh preserve. Greenies are highly territorial and these two definitely didn't appreciate each other's presence. The third heron was well behind these two. The heron in front retreated across the channel, but as you can see in the second photo, it remained upset, with its crest fully erect. Lighting was tough with the sun almost directly overhead and the birds were pretty far away, so picture quality is rather poor.
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Same Greenie as before, at rest
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