Grey Heron at Warren Tiger Bay wetlands !?

[Roy Harvey <>]

I was at the Warren Tiger Bay Wetlands on Monday 7 Nov and saw lots of White Necked Herons, White Faced herons some larger egrets (too far away for me to know if they were Intermediates or Greats). 

I was delighted to see a Grey Heron at relatively close range. I checked the drawing in  Slater's Field Guide (but didn't read the Notes on the bird) and happily recorded it in my notebook. I had seen lots of Grey Herons in Vietnam last year and Sweden and the UK earlier this year and so was in no doubt what I had seen. When I went to tick it on the Local Bird list I was surprised that there was no space for the Grey Heron - so I drew a neat box which I marked as Grey Heron and ticked it.

Later, a more experienced birder pointed out that this was an extremely rare sighting (as noted in Slater). He said that, these days, without a photo this would not be accepted as a sighting.

I went back to Tiger Bay on 15th but there were few herons or egrets during the two hours that I was there and certainly not a Grey Back.

I'm not expecting this to be accepted as a formal sighting - but if you happen to be at Warren or Macquarie Marshes - keep your camera handy - JUST IN CASE!

Cheers

Roy