Little Blue Heron Ireland

[Bobolink44]

Photos by Sean Cronin here:
http://flickr.com/photos/sean_cronin/

[Bobolink44]

now some crackers by Michael O'Keeffe and John Coveney on Surfbirds Stop Press. Guess it might hang around for a bit...

[MichaelF]

Anyone know what's the story about it being present for 11 days before being identified? Passed off as a Little Egret without being looked at closely? Or being known to be present by a local non-birding landowner who told an incredulous birder "Oh, that's been here for 11 days!!"?

[Johnny X]

Anyone know what's the story about it being present for 11 days before being identified? Passed off as a Little Egret without being looked at closely? Or being known to be present by a local non-birding landowner who told an incredulous birder "Oh, that's been here for 11 days!!"?

Apparently seen by birders who considered it a juv Little (with reservations) on 24th Sep...who only realised what it likely was much later. Thankfully it hung around, that would have been a dreadful 'one that got away'...

[MichaelF]

What about the intervening days? Did no-one look at it at all then? I'd guess as far northwest as Galway, Little Egret is still scarce enough to attract a bit of attention.

[Johnny X]

It seems not!

Let's just say these things are always obvious in retrospect with some nice photos to look at...

[Brian S]

It's interesting to see the faint grey wash to the crown, and I wonder if it has any dark in the wings.

Some of these images from the US show the variation/development of juvenile plumage in LBH

http://www.finnertyphoto.com/images/fauna/BD-022-Juvenille%20Little%20Blue%20Heron.jpg

http://www.lloydspitalnikphotos.com/d/4142-2/little_blue_heron_F5R2726-01.jpg

http://www.fws.gov/northdakotafieldoffice/images/Little%20Blue%20Heron.jpg

http://www.birdsasart.com/Little-Blue-Heron-pied-imm-foraging-DeSoto-FL-_H2D1408.jpg

http://www.jrcompton.com/photos/The_Birds/J/j-pix/35843-immat-little-blue-fly.jpg

Brian S

[Josh Jones]

What about the intervening days? Did no-one look at it at all then? I'd guess as far northwest as Galway, Little Egret is still scarce enough to attract a bit of attention.

Why would anyone go and look at a Little Egret in the middle of nowhere if thats what it was reported as? They're fairly scarce in Galway still but not that bad. Density of birders in west Ireland is not exactly like it is over here so I doubt anyone would have looked since the initial sighting.

Apparently everything fell into place only when the finders saw photos of juvenile Little Blue Heron (by chance!). It was only then that they returned to the site and, hey presto, the bird was still present. Bit gutting really as I was out there on 13th Sept and scanned that exact bay!

Brian - photos of the primaries in surfbirds stop press now

[AndyB]

I've seen the question of whether a hybrid can be ruled out between Snowy Egret and Little Blue Heron. Little Blues are rare on the west coast but nothing about the lore color of this bird would trouble me but perhaps I'm ignorant about how common these hybrids are. I'm assuming they're pretty rare.

This page of birds shows a couple of juveniles and even an adult with yellowish/green lores:
http://www.surfbirds.com/cgi-bin/gallery/search2.cgi?species=little+blue+heron