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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