Contributor
Date
Location
- Age and sex
- Immature Unknown sex - X
Media notes
This photo was taken at 1:07 PM, very shortly before the heron's finding, killing, and eating a Hispid Cotton Rat. Its head is tilted slightly up in very alert fashion, head turned a bit to its right, and its left ear aimed a bit downward and toward the direction toward which it shortly turned, spotted, and captured the rat. I wonder if the heron might in this photo have been listening intently to sounds made by that ill-fated rat, localizing it in space. In any event, the heron suddenly turned about (toward the right in this photo) and soon had the rat in its mouth. PLEASE NOTE: This is the best of my photos for showing the typical marking and coloration of this species' neck. That part of the bird is certainly showing adult-type plumage.
Observation details
Based upon study of my photographs and review of my field notes, this individual exhibited somewhat less than full adult plumage, although it had mainly adult features. Nonetheless, I believe that labeling it (below) as adult might be misleading as to its actual plumage state (indicating age), so I am listing it below as "immature." PLEASE NOTE: In discussing below my photos I will point out specific features indicating that this individual evinced less than full adulthood, fully recognizing, though, that most of its features were like those of adults. I will, using this set of photos, also document this bird's capture and ingestion of a Hispid Cotton Rat and will supplement that by providing some visual observations of this heron obtaining and consuming its New Year's Day feast. This Bare-throated Tiger-Heron initially was found (and reported) on December 21, 2009 by R. Nirschl and R. Snyder. Publicity concerning this first-ever (USA) finding brought many birders to this state park to search for it. The present report concerns my own fifth effort to find and photograph it. A few days before this I had had a very brief sighting of a bird in flight, near day's end, that closer birders had affirmed was this desired species, but from my greater distance, seeing the bird briefly in flight in low-level light was inadequate for definitive personal identification and for photography.
Technical information
- Model
- Canon EOS 10D
- ISO
- 400
- Focal length
- 280 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire
- f-stop
- f/11.0
- Shutter speed
- 1/1000 sec
- Dimensions
- 422 pixels x 601 pixels
- Original file size
- 90.68 KB