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waders



The totals are in!  A whopping 20 people came through this time. 

People wrote in from up and down the east coast from Florida to Maryland,
all over the Carolinas, and way out west of here where a field guide to
sparrows would be more useful than one with herons and egrets in it,
Nebraska.

So, hereıs the totals.

Brown Bird:

Yellow-crowned Night Heron - 18

Black-crowned Night heron - 2

White Bird:

Snowy Egret - 12
2 adult/10 not aged

Reddish Egret (white morph) - 5
2 Juv/3 not aged

Little Egret - 3
not aged


First, the plant.  The plant is Sea Grape.  I didnıt know there were two
species of Sea Grape, both in southern Florida and southward.  One is Pigeon
Seagrape, or Doveplum (nice name), the other, just Sea Grape.  The one in
the photo appears to be Sea Grape (C. uvefera), it has larger, more rounded
leaves than does Doveplum. 

The brown one:

You canıt see much more then the head and neck (which seems rather long) of
the ³brown² wader, although part of the back is visible.  The thick
relatively short bill immediately eliminates two other long necked, brownish
water type birds, Limpkin and Juv. White Ibis.  Three other brownish birds
with long necks are Yellow-crowned Night Heron (ycnh), Black-crowned Night
Heron (bcnh), and American Bittern.

American Bitterns have a very pointed, light colored bills, very well
defined stripes on the throat and neck, and smaller eyes.  This bird
(pictured) has very large eyes!

That leaves ycnh and bcnh.  Ycnhıs legs are longer than bcnh.  You canıt see
that in the photo.  Ycnh is much thinner, appears more slender and ³longer²
overall than bcnh.  You get a hint of that in the photo, the bird doesnıt
appear to be stocky.  The neck is by no means as proportionately as long as,
say, American Bittern, but the bird does appear to be rather long necked.

You canıt see the white spots on the wings or back, but the streaking on the
neck is rather fine.  The bill is heavy, dark, and somewhat blunt.  Bcnh has
a heavy bill, but it has a yellowish cast to the lower portion and it is
more pointed than the pictured bird, and the streaking on the neck is not as
defined.

The bird in the photo, at Ding-Darling, Sanibel Island, FL, standing next to
Sea Grape, was very, very, slowly stalking Fiddler Crabs, one of the
favorites of theYellow-crowned Night-heron. 

NOTE:  I donıt know for sure, and I donıt know if anyone has ever measured
them, but Iıll bet that ycnhıs eyes are larger than bcnh.  It makes sense
that their eyes are larger than other  diurnal-type herons, but seeing how
they spend, perhaps, more time cruising the nighttime salt marsh than even
bcnh...Anyone measure the eyes of either of these birds?

The white one:

Now the hard part.  Of all the white egrets and herons in our area three can
quickly be eliminated by bill color and body shape, Great Blue Heron (white
morph), way too large and bulky, Great Egret, yellow bill and very slender
neck, and Cattle Egret, even with the dark bill and legs of young birds the
short stocky body and neck wonıt work here.

That leaves Snowy Egret (sneg), the white morph of Reddish Egret (sneg), and
Little Blue heron (lbhe).  Did I miss any? Oh yeah, Little Egret (lieg). 
The pictured bird has black or dark colored legs, fairly heavy, longish dark
bill, and the body and neck seem evenly proportioned for an egret (or
heron), just a bit on the slender side.

Young lbhe have greenish legs, are fairly stocky birds, and have bi-colored
bills.  Breeding reegıs have bi-colored bills as well, but have darks legs.

As mentioned it is difficult to judge size on a lone bird, but the bird does
appear to be fairly sturdy.  Whenever I see a sneg, the bird almost always
appears very delicate, even in breeding plumage with all the plumes fluffed
up, or blowing in the wind.   The picture doesnıt give much of a clue as to
what time of year it is (although the bird itself does).  This bird does
have a rather shaggy headed look, but I donıt know if that is really
important here.  

Snegs have black bills, but the lores are yellow, and young snegs have light
colored legs.  The bird in the picture has dark legs and lores.  You canıt
see the toes.  Most of the feet  and legs are visible, just the toes are
under water, so you donıt know what color they are.  So what does that mean?
 It means that it is not an adult sneg, but maybe itıs a lieg.

Adult breeding liegs only show yellow lores for a short time in the spring. 
Long head plumes would be visible as well, but the wind may be blowing them
against or behind the head.  Juveniles of both sneg and lieg have dark
slender bills with dark lores.  The pictured bird has a substantial, all
dark bill, much too heavy for either sneg or lieg.

The ³white wader² was video taped in November 2001, southwest of Galveston,
TX on the extensive flats below the bridge at San Luis Pass.  Unless Iım
mistaken, it is a Juvenile Reddish Egret (white morph).

NOTE:  One thing, did anyone notice the color of the legs near the body? 
They are lighter than the rest of the legs.  Any heron experts out there?

This, from Sibleyıs guide, an up date:

page 62: The label for "2nd year" Reddish Egret of both dark and white
morphs should be changed to "adult nonbreeding" and the bright-billed
"adult" should be labeled "adult breeding". The bright colors are worn by an
individual bird for a few months when breeding, which can happen almost
year-round, but mainly about Jan to Jun.

And here from  me:

An overwhelming number of those knew the ID of the brown bird with little
problem, 90% got it right.  Some folks didnıt mention that the bird was a
young bird, but I think that can be assumed. It was not so overwhelming with
the white bird though.  Only 25% called it correctly.  It wasnıt all that
easy.  Itıs difficult to judge size when the bird by itself, color sometimes
varies due to lighting conditions, and a static photo doesnıt let you see
any of the birds behavior.  The plant, well, the plant was IDıd correctly by
75% of those who chose to take a stab at it (4 people).

Thanks again for responding.  It was fun!  You sure can learn a lot by doing
this sort of thing, I know I am.

Greg

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Greg Dodge
Hillsborough, NC
brownbagproductions.com