Dave:

The pictures you link to are immature Great Blue Herons that don't have the
same long plumes and coloring (especially top of the head) that mature
adults have.

Take a look at what Rob Butler, author of The Great Blue Heron (UBC Press,
1997) and the BNA monograph (1992) has to say about Dickerman's
classification: "[Dickerman's] conclusion has not yet been officially
adopted and some genetic research could shed some light on this issue." More
from Rob at http://robbutler.ca/. It would be great if someone (any grad
students out there?) would pursue genetic testing to learn more about the
Ardea herodias subspecies and geographic ranges for each.

Pam Cahn
puc at pcahn dot info
Seattle


-----Original Message-----
Message: 9
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2011 17:45:22 -0800
From: dave templeton <crazydave65 at gmail.com>
Subject: [Tweeters] question re: great blue herons
To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
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<AANLkTi=+8BtjynTXAnVd+fdiSaKn0g1qcjgtAZnFJojh at mail.gmail.com>
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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