Hi:

i have a question about herons. as i understand from a brief scan of the
literature, there are several subspecies of great blue heron, one of which
may be endemic to these parts, i.e., the northwest great blue heron Ardea
herodias fannini, described as 'smaller and darker' than the nominate bird,
A. h. herodias. the latest paper i found in my brief foray on the internet
was by Dickerman in 2004 (cite available if anybody really cares). i think
he says the birds here are intergrades between fannini and another
subspecies, wardi. true fanninis only nest in canada accdg to dickerman.
who goes where when nesting season is over isn't clear to me.

i looked at the literature because it has seemed to me of late that around
here there are big ol' blue birds and other ones that don't look quite like
them. i got images of one by conway (at i-5) over the weekend which can be
seen at

http://www.pbase.com/dtempleton/image/132535429 and
http://www.pbase.com/dtempleton/image/132535406

this bird doesn't seem as big, as blue or have as much head markings as the
birds in places like say juanita bay.

any heron watchers out there who could shed some light on this would be
appreciated.

tks,

t

--
dave templeton
fall city, wa

crazydave65atgmaildaughtcom

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today; it's already tomorrow
in Australia." Charles Schultz
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