Birding in Blues, Browns, and White

By Gail Jackson

Have you seen the blue heron that is white? The white ibis that is brown? I have learned that the colors of immature wading birds are often similar to adults of other species. This leads to confusion when trying to identify birds that are normally blue, brown or white. To illustrate this point, here are four examples of confusing comparisons.

In late summer I was cruising Black Point Drive and saw the heron with the white belly and white streak under the throat. It was the tri-colored heron, which is quite common here. Further along the way I spotted a similar color pattern on a much larger bird. It was twice as big as the other bird, yet it had the same gray/white belly and white streak under the throat. I thought it was just a bigger tri-colored . But how could it be so big? Checking The Sibley Guide To Birds (pg. 60) it turned out to be an immature great blue heron. Do you see the similarity?

Another interesting sighting was three small heron size birds perched all on the same bush. One was all blue, the other all white and the third was blue with white blotches…or was it white with blue blotches? What was going on here? The all blue bird was an adult little blue heron. The all white bird could have been a snowy egret, but it did not have the black legs and yellow “snow shoes”. It did have pale, dull green legs! Checking Sibley (pg. 63) this all white bird turned out to be an immature little blue heron. The third bird that was white with blue blotches was somewhere in between immaturity and adulthood and was also a little blue heron. What a great sighting for comparisons!

At another time I saw two birds that were shaped like white ibis (i.e., long curved bills, chunky bodies.) Both had long curved bills and brown and white speckled bodies. However, one of the birds had a pinkish/orange bill while the other bird had a yellow bill. Yet the bodies were similar size and shape. Hummm! Again, a check in with Sibley (pg. 156) explained that the all brown speckled with the yellow bill was a limpkin while the one with the pinkish bill was an immature white ibis (pg. 66.) Very interesting!

One of the most entertaining dancing birds at the Refuge is the reddish egret. His rusty red head and neck feathers give him his name. You may have seen him jumping around in the shallow waters trying to stir up fish. Quite a sight. There is another wading bird, however, who has a similar long reddish neck and head. but it just stands perfectly still at the waters edge. At first I thought it was a sick reddish egret because he was so still. Thanks again to Sibley (pg. 62–63) I could see that the “sick” bird was really an immature tri-colored heron, who stands perfectly still and strikes quickly at a passing fish, unlike the reddish egret who dances all over the place.

Next month, I will discuss the differences between a bill and a beak, will also give you some helpful hints for identifying birds based on their bills and beaks. Happy birding!