What kind of bird is this?

[re http://www.posted-online.com/NWC/ and
http://www.posted-online.com/ArizonaBirds/ ]

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.

You're very kind. The pictures in Westchester are mostly a matter of
luck, I have to say. I usually have a Canon S70 with me, and when I
see animals --- which I love --- I generally set the camera to full
optical zoom and hope for the best.

One thing I will say is that my most important technique is patience.
I'll frequently sit watching an animal through the viewfinder for
10-15 minutes, waiting for the right shot.

And yes, I use the viewfinder, not the LCD.

The pictures from Arizona are much more dramatic, and they're the
result of a completely different technique. They were taken during a
live raptor show, with a Canon 30D. There I just took oodles of
pictures (3 and sometimes 5 per second), and chose the best ones.

-Joel

Joel M. Hoffman, PhD
http://www.lashon.net/JMH

On 2007-04-09 21:16:00 -0700, John Sheehy said:

(Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) wrote in news:4HxSh.25$XH5.13
@newsfe12.lga:

A bit off topic, but I'll be grateful if someone can help me identify
the bird in the first shot on this page:

http://posted-online.com/NWC/

I think it's an Igret, but I'd like to know for sure. (It's hiding in
the bottom right-hand corner.)

I don't know how they decide if a bird is called an egret or a heron;
it looks closely related to birds called egrets, but it's common name
is the "Great Blue Heron".


Egrets are white. Some heron species also have white phases or they are
white when immature, but in general herons are dark birds and egrets
are white. Sometimes the only way to tell the difference between an
egret and a white heron is by the color of the legs, bill and eyes.
--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in
:

Around my area many have become accustomed to having people close
and
tend to allow people a lot closer.

My experience has been that the GBH is *very* sensitive to attention.
It's true of many birds to some degree, but especially true for this
bird. It won't mind people going about *their* business, but as soon as
your business becomes the bird itself, it takes notice and flees. I've
seen GBHes on the other side of a lake, in plain view of the trail on its
side of the lake, with people roller-blading, bicycling and jogging right
near it, but if I part the weeds from the other side of the lake, and
look at it, it will give me a couple of stares, and then take off.

I've found fish to be the same way; walking a trail around a lake or
pond, I'll see several people in front of me, and when I come to the same
spot and *stop*, and turn to look at the water, fish will make waves as
they dart to deeper water. Animals are not plastic toys; they are
experts at the game of survival, and in order not to waste their energy,
they need to detect whether or not *they* are being detected.

Last year I walked through a park trail, and passed the same spot twice,
because I went in a circle. The second time, I realized that I was
repeating myself, and turned around. The second I turned around, three
Woodcocks went flying from off the ground, literally a foot away from
where my feet were. I probably passed them the first time, and they let
me pass them again the second time, but as soon as I did anything that
suggested that I may have been referencing *them*, they took off.



--


John P Sheehy

"John Sheehy" wrote in message
...
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in
:

Around my area many have become accustomed to having people close
and
tend to allow people a lot closer.

My experience has been that the GBH is *very* sensitive to attention.
It's true of many birds to some degree, but especially true for this
bird. It won't mind people going about *their* business, but as soon as
your business becomes the bird itself, it takes notice and flees. I've
seen GBHes on the other side of a lake, in plain view of the trail on its
side of the lake, with people roller-blading, bicycling and jogging right
near it, but if I part the weeds from the other side of the lake, and
look at it, it will give me a couple of stares, and then take off.

I've found fish to be the same way; walking a trail around a lake or
pond, I'll see several people in front of me, and when I come to the same
spot and *stop*, and turn to look at the water, fish will make waves as
they dart to deeper water. Animals are not plastic toys; they are
experts at the game of survival, and in order not to waste their energy,
they need to detect whether or not *they* are being detected.

Last year I walked through a park trail, and passed the same spot twice,
because I went in a circle. The second time, I realized that I was
repeating myself, and turned around. The second I turned around, three
Woodcocks went flying from off the ground, literally a foot away from
where my feet were. I probably passed them the first time, and they let
me pass them again the second time, but as soon as I did anything that
suggested that I may have been referencing *them*, they took off.

I have found that most wildlife, including GBH, are more tolerant of people
in vehicles than they are of people on foot. Many birds and animals will
let you sit in a vehicle and watch or take photos for long periods of time
until they move on in their search for food, but when someone opens a door
or gets out of a vehicle the wildlife takes off.

Ron

John Sheehy wrote:
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in
:

Around my area many have become accustomed to having people close
and
tend to allow people a lot closer.

My experience has been that the GBH is *very* sensitive to attention.
It's true of many birds to some degree, but especially true for this
bird. It won't mind people going about *their* business, but as soon
as your business becomes the bird itself, it takes notice and flees.
I've seen GBHes on the other side of a lake, in plain view of the
trail on its side of the lake, with people roller-blading, bicycling
and jogging right near it, but if I part the weeds from the other
side of the lake, and look at it, it will give me a couple of stares,
and then take off.

I've found fish to be the same way; walking a trail around a lake or
pond, I'll see several people in front of me, and when I come to the
same spot and *stop*, and turn to look at the water, fish will make
waves as they dart to deeper water. Animals are not plastic toys;
they are experts at the game of survival, and in order not to waste
their energy, they need to detect whether or not *they* are being
detected.

Last year I walked through a park trail, and passed the same spot
twice, because I went in a circle. The second time, I realized that
I was repeating myself, and turned around. The second I turned
around, three Woodcocks went flying from off the ground, literally a
foot away from where my feet were. I probably passed them the first
time, and they let me pass them again the second time, but as soon as
I did anything that suggested that I may have been referencing
*them*, they took off.

It's my understanding that there's an "eye response"--gets triggered by
anything eye-like (which is perhaps why the "eye" pattern on some moths
is effective) and results in flight away from the eyes.

Noticed that the other day. Went to lunch at Taco Hell and there was a
mockingbird about 6 feet from the car doing whatever it is that
mockingirds do and paying no attention to me, until the 300 was pointed
at it at which time it lit off the warp drive and headed for Alpha
Centauri.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

On Apr 10, 9:39 am, "J. Clarke" wrote:

Any recent sightings of Spike? Haven't seen a pic lately and fear the
worst...


Presumably the nail has worked its way out and Spike is now happily
nailless and more or less indistinguishable from any other heron.

Spike has not been at his usual spots for the past few months.
There are a couple of herons there, but none of them are Spike.
I don't know whether he has moved somewhere else or whether something
else has happened to him (perhaps rust?).

The other day I was over there at my usual haunt looking for Spike.
An elderly gentleman walked up and saw me photographing another
heron. He asked, "Does that heron have a nail in his neck?" I said,
"No, sir."
The old man says, "Well then it isn't Spike."

I laughed and introduced myself. It seems that he had seen my pics of
Spike online.
It's Spike's world and we're all just living in it.

Annika1980 wrote:
The other day I was over there at my usual haunt looking for Spike.
An elderly gentleman walked up and saw me photographing another
heron. He asked, "Does that heron have a nail in his neck?" I said,
"No, sir."
The old man says, "Well then it isn't Spike."

I laughed and introduced myself. It seems that he had seen my pics of
Spike online.
It's Spike's world and we're all just living in it.

Great. So now you're hanging out with heron addicts again.

John Sheehy wrote:
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in
:

Around my area many have become accustomed to having people close
and
tend to allow people a lot closer.

My experience has been that the GBH is *very* sensitive to attention.

Yes, that is what I have noticed. I can usually stop rowing and just
slowly glide past but I would not expect to be able to start turning towards
one. Same thin with the foxes along the shore.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

Dr. Joel M. Hoffman wrote:
A bit off topic, but I'll be grateful if someone can help me identify
the bird in the first shot on this page:

http://posted-online.com/NWC/

I think it's an Igret, but I'd like to know for sure. (It's hiding in
the bottom right-hand corner.

Egrets are white. Probably a Heron.


)

Thanks.

-Joel

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


Yes and there is a Little Blue Heron as well, but that one looks like a
Great Blue.

Hmm, wasn't aware there is a Little Blue Heron, though I guess I should
have. I've got several shots of a Little Green Heron both juvenile and
adult:
http://edwardgruf.com/Digital_Photog...r1600_800.html
http://edwardgruf.com/Digital_Photog...r1600_800.html
http://edwardgruf.com/Digital_Photog...r1600_800.html
http://edwardgruf.com/Digital_Photog...r1600_800.html
http://edwardgruf.com/Digital_Photog...r1600_800.html


My Little Blue picture is at
http://s159.photobucket.com/albums/t...eblueheron.jpg.
Other birds, all labeled for what and where, can be found in the album.