Hi all
Just a couple of points of clarification following Denise?s email:
1. The photo that Keith Fisher took, and which is on my website, is
representative of the ?mid-1980s? herons that Denise mentioned. The
birds were seen by numerous people and there were many photos taken,
including by me, but until I saw Keith?s, I didn?t know there were any
of good quality. There were other reports in that period of birds
which differed a little, and there is every chance that the same bird
or birds may have been seen in two or more years, with slightly
different plumage.
2. In reference to other ?recent? unusual herons ? the note that
Denise posted some time ago (2000) regarding herons she considered to
be likely White-necked x Pied hybrids were immature Pied. They were a
little scatty looking around the head, but the error was in
considering that the white on the bend of the wing indicated White-
necked. The size (?a little larger than Pied?) is subjective and
cannot preclude Pied. The ?dark? tibia also does not preclude Pied. I
am confident I saw the birds she described, and was very much
interested in the intermediate plumage they were showing at the time.
Check my original posting on this:
http://menura.cse.unsw.edu.au:1080/1999/09/msg00267.html
3. The most recent herons, pictured on my website, are apparently
immature birds, and it seems clear that they are quite different from
the adult one(s) in question. In my view at this stage, I think they
are immature Pied with a so far unexplained colour variation. One of
those photos is by Mike Reed, but it?s from Fogg Dam, as stated on the
website, not ?around Katherine?.
Happy heroning again
Niven
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