Ed Ruf (REPLY to E-MAIL IN SIG!) wrote:
On Mon, 09 Apr 2007 20:22:51 -0500, in rec.photo.digital Allen
wrote:

Ed Ruf (REPLY to E-MAIL IN SIG!) wrote:
On Mon, 9 Apr 2007 19:57:10 -0400, in rec.photo.digital "Joseph Meehan"
wrote:


Yes and there is a Little Blue Heron as well, but that one looks like a
Great Blue.
FWIW, to me it doesn't look anything close to a GBH from what these sites
show:
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAbou...lue_Heron.html
http://www.enature.com/flashcard/sho...dNumber=BD0111
http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/chf/pub/ifw...lue-heron.html
http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/littleblueheron.htm
Why do you think it isn't a GREAT Blue Heron when you are showing us
four different pictures of LITTLE Blue Herons? It is definitely a Great
Blue, a magnificent bird.

My mistake in reply , not ident. I have many photos of GBH's on my site and
am in fact processing a few as we speak. I quickly read Joseph's message
and misinterpreted as it as saying a LBH looks like a GBH. That is what I
replying to. And I do believe in fact my shots are of a Little Green, not
Blue Heron. It is quite difficult to tell the difference and I and several
folks from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science went around the ident
from these photos several times. If you can provide a reference to the
contrary, I would be interested.
We don't have Little Blues in my area (Austin TX), or at least I've
never seen one. We do have huge numbers of Greats, even in non-flowing
streams with a few puddles 5 or 6 inches deep during periods between
rains, right in the middle of town. We also have a smaller number of
Greens, which certainly look like your pictures--extensive brown on the
neck, shorter neck than Little Blues. I just pulled out a Peterson and
your birds look like his Greens, some adult, some immature. About Great
Blues: I will never forget an experience in West Texas 30 years ago; we
watched perhaps 75 Greats coming in to their roosting places on a lake
well after sunset, with only a dull glow left in the sky. There were no
obvious signs of civilization--no telephone or power lines, no
buildings, no vehicles; it felt eerily like pre-history, reminding of
the creation episode in Fantasia with The Rite of Spring . Great Blues
are among my favorite birds.

And--the pictures on your site are wonderful. How about sharing some
information about your tools and methods? I, and I'm sure many others,
would like to know. As I'm sure you know from experience, birds aren't
exactly the easiest things to photograph.

Allen