Grey Heron Mime

[John 2]

These birds always remind me of the Mime Artists you often see at holiday destinations. Patiently standing still in one place for long periods with just the occasional change of position.

Fuji X plus 55-200mm lens

[Shadowman]

Nice shot.

[NorthernFocus]

Nicely captured in its natural state. Looks like the same bird that we call a great blue heron.

[John 2]

Thanks John.

Dan, they are different birds but I think you are correct in your ID. My knowledge doesn't extend beyond what I see in Google Images. I plumped for "Grey" because the "Blue" seemed to have a dark flash running from the top of the beak to the eye which this bird doesn't have. This bird looks more like a "grey" in that respect. However, in researching a little more, there seems to be no record of "Greys" ever being seen on the North American continent where the blue is resident whereas the occasional "Vagrant" blue has been seen in the UK. Since this was taken in Nova Scotia, I think this must be a "Blue".

[NorthernFocus]

...I think this must be a "Blue".

Well that would explain the similarity

For the most part my knowledge of birds is proportional to the size of my bird image database. When I shoot new species I look them up. I do have intimate knowledge of a few due to many hours of field observation supplemented by reading available reference material out of interest in understanding their behavior.

[Saorsa]

The Blues and Greys are so similar that you might start a civil war over it, but they are different birds.

I visit England and have to remember they are Greys and English friends visit and call our Blues Grey.

[NorthernFocus]

The Blues and Greys are so similar that you might start a civil war over it, but they are different birds.

I visit England and have to remember they are Greys and English friends visit and call our Blues Grey.

Looking at multiple available photos on line of the greys the one fairly obvious difference that I see is that the grey lacks the rufous colored patches that blue has on the wing joints and legs. Yes other than they the look pretty much alike.

[Suzan J]

Very nice capture. This bird has always eluded me. It comes tantalizingly close but never sits still long enough. It is Number 1 on my bucket list.

[JohnRostron]

These birds always remind me of the Mime Artists you often see at holiday destinations. Patiently standing still in one place for long periods with just the occasional change of position.

I think you are referring to living statues. Mime artists perform actively but without speech or other sound.

In 2015 we were on the Isles of Scilly (off south-West England) when a Great Blue Heron turned up. We saw many herons that week, but we were unable to convince ourselves that any were the GBH and not the common Grey Heron!

You are right about them standing like statues though.

John

[madcrow]

You did very well with a 55-200 to get so close and take a fantastic image as well.

[Craigie]

A lovely image John.

[rpcrowe]

Fine capture...

[bnnrcn]

Nice image John

[John 2]

Thanks all for the comments.

John R. I think your description is probably the more accurate. Thanks for the correction.

Susan, Maurice, I think I was lucky. The Grey Herons at my local nature reserve are very shy and will spook even if you are a couple of hundred yds away. It's still a fair crop in PP but this one was much closer. I captured it from the shore side car park of a shop my wife had gone into in Mahone Bay. The town surrounds the bay and I think the bird population in the bay had become fairly used to being close to a populated area.

[terrib]

This is a nice image. Glad you had a chance to get relatively close.

[John 2]

Missed your input Terri. Thanks for the comment.