Tuesday, March 9, 2010

ABC Wednesday: H is for Heron

The herons are wading birds in the Ardeidae family. This one is the black-crowned night heron (夜鷺), Nycticorax nycticorax. It could be found throughout a large part of the world. The bird is very patient when it is ready to catch a fish from the pond. So, if we are patient enough, we can quite often get very clear photographs of this bird.

This is the subadult of the black-crowned night heron. It is an immature bird in the process of acquiring adult plumage. Notice its distinctive spotted feather!

This is probably another night heron about to grow into maturation.

Look at its blood-red eye, a hallmark of this bird!

This one is the Malaysian Night Heron (黑冠麻鷺), Gorsachius melanolophus. It has distinctive blue ring around its eyes and at the base of the beak. It could be found in Southeast Asia.

The grey heron (蒼鷺), Ardea cinerea looks very much like the great blue heron, Ardea herodias of the North America. It is a migratory bird breeds in Siberia, Northeast of China and Korea. It passes by Taiwan during the winter and early spring. This one kept itself in the distance in the middle of the pond. Not long after I took the picture, it caught a fish of over 1-foot long.

You may notice that the grey heron has the body shape of an egret. Egret is actually a common name given to any of the several species of herons with white feathers. Thus, I have to include here the picture of a little egret (小白鷺), Egretta garzetta.

Look at its yellow eye and black beak, which are very different from the great egret, Ardea alba and intermediate egret, Egretta intermedia.

You can enlarged the pictures to get an even clearer view by click on them.

To see more entries of ABC Wednesday click here.
To see more entries of Camera Critters click here.
To see birds from around the world click here.

23 comments:

Sylvia K said...

Gorgeous shots of such incredibly beautiful herons!! What a great post for the day! Thanks for sharing such interesting information about them! Have a great week!

Sylvia

Amy said...

These are just beautiful photos - I had no idea there were so many types of herons. Really enjoyed this post!

Hildred said...

Wonderful photos - so many different Herons in the family, and I have only once seen the Great Blue Heron. Thanks you for introducing all the cousins in the family....

LeAnn said...

It is amazing to me how many types of birds there are, and how beautiful each on is!

photowannabe said...

Gorgeous pictures of the birds. Like Amy, I didn't know there were so many types of Herons either.
Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed your post.

Anonymous said...

*Beautiful* photos!

Carol said...

Great shots, Grace and Bradley, of beautiful birds. Wonderful close ups. I only know the grey heron and the egret.

Jay said...

I've never seen a juvenile heron before - aren't they odd! LOL!

The egret is quite lovely.

Monika said...

gorgeous shots i specially like the close ups

Carolyn Ford said...

I love the herons! What elegant poses you captured. Beautiful!

Roger Owen Green said...

I LOVE it - descriptions in English, Latin and what I assume to be Chinese. most thorough.

Nice pics, too.

Tumblewords: said...

Stunning photography! Thank you for them and for the informational narrative. A delightful read!

Larry said...

Gorgeous shots of the herons and egret Grace and Bradley! We have the Black-crowned Night Heron here in California but I have never seen the Malaysian Night Heron. What a beautiful bird.

Tania said...

Great pictures and birds!
Wish you a nice evening:-)

~✽Mumsy✽~ said...

Wow...gorgeous pictures of the herons..

eileeninmd said...

Awesome shots of the herons and egret. They are beautiful birds.

i beati said...

great pics clear and showing character

JD and Max said...

Amazing shots - we were captivated and almost expected the birds to fly straight out of the screen they were that clear. Wonderful! :)

Iowa Gardening Woman said...

What beautiful photos! So clear and crisp, thanks for sharing.

EJ said...

Great shots!

Please take a peek of my sister's PETS

Oskar said...

Beautiful spots!

Carolyn Ford said...

You have such crystal clear shots of these birds! I love the first one...what a beauty this guy is!

gwen said...

Great series of the herons and egrets. Lovely photos! I especially like the night herons. The Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) is extremely rare here in the Netherlands; I've never seen it here.

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