heron

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Posted by Phil Pickering (208.46.229.107) on June 04, 2002 at 19:06:31:

At first glance the reddish coloration on the neck does suggest Reddish Egret, but I'm not sure it extends down or up far enough. Both the base of the neck, and the face and forecrown look pretty blue to me. Also, the legs look more blue-greenish like a Little Blue Heron than blue-gray like Reddish Egret. Even if the color in the scan is off, I would expect to be able to detect at least a little contrast between the paler bill base and darker legs in a Reddish Egret. The bill base and legs seem pretty close to the same shade here, more like a Little Blue. The contrast between light and dark in the bill looks extreme for Little Blue, but the black extending farther inward on the upper mandible looks better for Little Blue than Reddish Egret. Overall, looks closest to Little Blue to me, but pretty STRANGE.

Maybe it's just the lighting, or color change from the photo/scanning process, but the neck coloration does suggest the possibility of a Reddish Egret/Little Blue hybrid (Little Reddish-blue Egron?) I know NOOOOTHING about heron hybrids. More to research, I guess (Joe wouldn't post a hybrid, would He? Naaah...)

Cheers,

Phil

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: At first glance the reddish coloration on the neck does suggest Reddish Egret, but I'm not sure it extends down or up far enough. Both the base of the neck, and the face and forecrown look pretty blue to me. Also, the legs look more blue-greenish like a Little Blue Heron than blue-gray like Reddish Egret. Even if the color in the scan is off, I would expect to be able to detect at least a little contrast between the paler bill base and darker legs in a Reddish Egret. The bill base and legs seem pretty close to the same shade here, more like a Little Blue. The contrast between light and dark in the bill looks extreme for Little Blue, but the black extending farther inward on the upper mandible looks better for Little Blue than Reddish Egret. Overall, looks closest to Little Blue to me, but pretty STRANGE. : Maybe it's just the lighting, or color change from the photo/scanning process, but the neck coloration does suggest the possibility of a Reddish Egret/Little Blue hybrid (Little Reddish-blue Egron?) I know NOOOOTHING about heron hybrids. More to research, I guess (Joe wouldn't post a hybrid, would He? Naaah...) : Cheers, : Phil

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