birding-aus

Re: Red legged White Faced Heron

To: <>, Birding Aus <>
Subject: Re: Red legged White Faced Heron
From: Kevin Vang <>
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 11:31:58 +1000
Dear Peter

I am very glad you mentioned this.  We photographed a similar bird last year on Sydney’s Northern Beaches (Bilgola Beach) also ‘surprise, surprise” in August (August 30, 2003).  Later today, after work, I will post some of the pictures on our website:

www.birdquest.net

When researching this, the Handbook on Birds of the World noted that White-faced Herons had a wide variety of leg colours (but not well understood why and when), but our own HANZAB gave a most unsatisfactory throw away line on the leg colour of White-faced Herons saying only yellow and one other similar colour.  I would have thought the HANZAB researcher who did this entry could have at least read the HBW and tried to give a more thorough explanation.  So it has always bothered me that the legs of one of our own most common birds, was so shoddily described ;-).  

I have brought this to HANZAB’s attention, but I am not sure if they have done anything about it.

Now it seems we have a pattern (if 2 makes a pattern;-) of red-legged, white-faced herons appearing in August.  I suspect something to do with breeding as almost all herons have this leg-beak thing going when getting into the breeding spirit ;-)

What do other think???

Kevin
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