Niven
I'm really sorry to hear about the loss of your gear. I'm told this sort
of thing occurs regularly at Buffalo Creek. Is that where you were?
The herons I saw were actually standing with some immature Pied Herons
near the sheds on the seaward side of the ponds. They were taller, they
were not dirty and their legs were definitely dark (I was only standing
about five metres away from them and watched them for about five
minutes). T he white patches on the bend of the wing were most obvious
in flight as they flew towards me, and indeed this is what drew my eye to
them in the first place. The crown was not grey but black.
In all my years of birding up here I have never seen immature (or
subadult) Pied Herons that looked like these two birds. I can only
assume that you didn't see the birds I'm referring to.
Regarding the other Pied Herons Hilary Thompson and I saw two or three
regularly at the sewage ponds in the years you mention. They differed
somewhat in appearance from each other (Hilary has the notes). Hilary
and I thought they were probably Pied Heron/White-faced Heron hybrids.
As these species are placed in different genera we thought it most
important that their true identity be resolved. So I approached Max King
then Curator of Reptiles at the NT Museum. His response was that if I
shot the birds, collected and froze the liver immediately then he'd give
me the address to which to post it! I assumed from that response he was
not really interested.
Regards
Denise
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