ML68846671

Age and sex

Immature Unknown sex - X

Observation details

First reported by Kevin Bourinot earlier this morning. I had good scope views at a distance of about 1,500 feet. I was on South Meadow Road and the bird was on the far west side of the pond. I observed the bird for quite awhile as it preened, moved about, and hunted occasionally. Most of the time it was out of the water standing on snags that looked like a fallen tree on the edge of the pond. The bird’s body was similar in length to Mallards that were resting close by on the fallen tree. That would indicate a length of about twenty-five inches. The bird appeared to be entirely white. It moved into the water a couple of times and then moved back up on to the snags. When its wings were extended I saw no dusky or dark areas near its primaries. The legs and feet appeared greenish. I could not see any black on the legs. The area around the eye and base of the bill appeared to be yellowish-greenish. The tip of the bill appeared dark. Its posture and way of moving appeared to be that of an immature Snowy Egret vs. an immature Little Blue Heron. The posture was, for the most part, upright and it moved around more vigorously than I would expect from a Little Blue Heron. Individuals of that species that I have observed have moved about more deliberately with their bodies held in a “horizontal” position. I conclude that this bird is an immature Snowy Egret. I am posting some images but the distance was at the edge of the effective range of my camera

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot SX50 HS

ISO

320

Focal length

215 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.5

Shutter speed

1/160 sec

Dimensions

2399 pixels x 1799 pixels

Original file size

2.13 MB