Photos - Places - Animals - Plants - People - Mexico

Front page	Birds (media)	Other Photos	Flora & Fauna (media)	ebird taxonomy	Mexican Species
Download Checklists	My 5 Chickens	Links	About	The Birding Program	Observations

Bird photos, sounds and videos

Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea) Herons, Egrets and Bitterns (Ardeidae)
dk: Blåhejre es: Garza Azul
	1563 (1 photos) 2013-03-27 La Boquita, Manzanillo, Colima (Col), Mexico Adult bird. The colors are bad here, but the two-colored bill without reddish base and the purplish upper neck combined with bluegray body give the species. The base of the bill appears yellow here, but is caused by the light angle. Dark morph of Reddish Egret is somewhat similar but is always a more heavy bird and with more reddish brown and grayish colors.
	1564 (1 photos) 2013-03-27 La Boquita, Manzanillo, Colima (Col), Mexico Adult. Same as 1563.
	1565 (4 photos) 2013-03-29 El Chupadero, Tecomán, Colima (Col), Mexico Adult in flight. Here unmistakable. Funny to see how the neck and the body blend completely together. Reddish Egret would show a pink base to the bill and brighter reddish pink colors to the neck, and also not have the greenish feet as shown here. Here with stretched out neck, something you normally only see with the herons when they have just taken flight.
	1569 (2 photos) 2013-03-31 Salinas de Cuyutlán, Colima (Col), Mexico Adult. Here at a locality where also the Reddish Egret can be seen. However, the compact size and absence of reddish colors make the id-matter straight forward.
	1570 (1 photos) 2013-03-31 Salinas de Cuyutlán, Colima (Col), Mexico 2 2cy birds. The bills are stronger with slightly different shape and with blue grayish color and you also clearly perceive the dirty bluish cast to the plumage which are not shown by the young Snowy Egrets.
	1572 (4 photos) 2013-08-01 Las Hadas Golf Course, Manzanillo, Colima (Col), Mexico 2cy bird. The gaudy look of the young bird at this time of year is characteristic. Hopeless flight picture, no 2, but still very illustrative regarding the progress of molt from young to adult plumage.
	1581 (1 photos) 2013-12-15 Presa La Vega, west of Gdl, Jalisco (Jal), Mexico Adult. Here unmistakable. See other pictures for explanation.
	1576 (2 photos) 2013-12-27 La Boquita, Manzanillo, Colima (Col), Mexico Adult standing in the rain.
	1562 (1 photos) 2014-02-22 Valle de las Garzas (laguna), Manzanillo, Colima (Col), Mexico 2cy bird. Not the best photo to learn from, but the somewhat thicker bill with blue gray basis and darker outer half is what distinguishes it from the very similar young Snowy Egret. These two cause most id-problems in relation to white herons. The young Little Blue Heron is always white.
	1578 (3 photos) 2014-03-02 Valle de las Garzas (laguna), Manzanillo, Colima (Col), Mexico 2cy bird. Here you clearly see the weak black tips to the primaries which are characteristic for the young Little Blue Heron. There were 3 young birds all together.
	3003 (6 photos) 2016-02-29 San Francisco (San Pancho), Nayarit (Nay), Mexico A typical adult bird in non-breeding plumage. But do notice the rather yellow(ish) cere which should normally not be a color possible to see associated with this species. Pale greenish is more common, and perhaps that is what it would actually look like in a neutral light. This bird was shot in the late afternoon.