Contribuidor
Fecha
Localidad
- Edad y sexo
- Inmaduro, sexo desconocido - X
Comentarios
This photo (taken at 1:09 PM) shows the heron immediately after it had grabbed a Hispid Cotton Mouse from the substrate and, apparently grasping it by the neck, had been shaking (and continued to shake) it ferociously. The motion of the bill, if it was still occurring at the moment the shutter opened, is not shown in the photo, presumably because of its being frozen by the exposure time for this photo, which was 1/1000sec. The fuzziness in the image of the poor rat might well, in addition to less than perfect focus, have been due to its being in a state of very rapid, involuntary, shaking and tremor, perhaps even in the throes of death. The rat appeared to succumb to this shaking, mandible-as-knife, tactic, ceased its struggle, and then was swallowed. (The swallowing is not shown here, but its later consequences for the appearance of the heron's throat/neck will be very evident from other photos herein.)
Detalles de la observación
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.
Información técnica
- Model
- Canon EOS 10D
- ISO
- 400
- Focal length
- 300 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire
- f-stop
- f/11.0
- Shutter speed
- 1/1000 sec
- Dimensions
- 652 pixels x 670 pixels
- Original file size
- 197.19 KB