June 2002 Mystery Bird
This turned into a more interesting exercise than I expected. Little Blue Herons and Reddish Egrets can look more
alike than many people realize. I believe the mystery photo is a Little Blue Heron. There were in fact two different
Reddish Egrets as well as this Little Blue Heron at the mouth of the San Diego River in January. Photos of the
two Reddish Egrets can be found here and here.
Neither one look like full adults to me. Even the darkest immature Reddish Egret shows pinkish at the base of
the bill. This Little Blue Heron has no visible pink. Also I'd like to add that the plum-color to the neck of
the Little Blue stops short of the base of the neck where it contrasts with the slate-blue color. This distribution
of color and contrast seems typical of Little Blue and I have not seen it on Reddish Egret.
Comments were thoughtful and helpful and I appreciate them very much.
This heron was photographed in San Diego in January 2002. What species is it? To view public comments or join
the fray by adding your opinion, click here. Have fun!
 |
Photo © 2002 David Furseth.
All rights reserved. |
Color perception has been a chronic problem in assessing photographic images on the web. This problem
is compounded by the wide variety of hardware and software used to view these images. Please adjust your video
to the highest possible number of colors. My logs show that over 25% of visitors view these pages with only 256
colors (8 bit). Sixteen bit (high color) is minimum and 24 bit (true color) desirable. Also you may wish to calibrate
your monitor against a color
standard and ensure that brightness and contrast are set correctly.
[Home] [California Birding]
[More Mystery Birds]