[obol] Great White Heron in OR

[Dan Gleason]

Peter,

The white morph ("Great White Heron") of the Great Blue Heron is  
found ONLY in portions of southern Florida, primarily the Florida  
Keys, Cuba and a few Caribbean Islands. A large white heron in Oregon  
is a Great Egret beyond any doubt. The white morph (as well as many  
of the regular Great Blues from this region) are somewhat larger than  
most of North America's Great Blue Herons and have heavy, straight  
bills. Their legs and feet are dull yellow to buffy whereas Great  
Egrets have black legs. Egrets also lack the plumes on the head that  
Great Blue Herons have but these is not always visible.

I am always amazed at the reactions of some people, especially some  
non-birders. Many times I have people call or describe a bird to me  
and want to know what they have seen. When I tell them, sometimes  
they insist that I am wrong, even though they know nothing about  
birds. One woman once wanted to know what type of ravens she had seen  
wandering around the shopping mall parking lot. "They have bright  
yellow eyes and are smaller than "wild" ravens." When I told her she  
was seeing Brewer's Blackbirds, she insisted that these were not  
blackbirds because she had seen blackbirds once before and these were  
different. Someone else called to ask about the large, white birds  
they had seen at Fern Ridge Res. The birds is question looked just  
like pelicans but they were white. when I explained that they were  
White Pelicans, the caller got rather indignant and told me that they  
didn't know much about birds but even they knew that pelicans were  
only at the coast so if I didn't know anything about birds, could I  
please tell them who to talk to that could answer their questions.

Dan Gleason
-------------
Dan Gleason
dan-gleason at comcast.net
541 345-0450


On Nov 2, 2007, at 12:14 PM, peterpatricelli wrote:

> A friend, who is NOT a birder, recently mentioned seeing Great  
> White Herons on his property near Tygh Valley.  I told him I  
> suspected he was seeing Great Egrets, and was told that I was  
> wrong.  While I am hardly a heavyweight, I have spent more time  
> perusing bird books than most people and had never even heard of a  
> White phase Great Blue Heron.  Now I come to learn that a formerly  
> separate Florida species has been determined to represent an  
> occidentalis subsp. of the Great Blue Heron.
>
> But a Google search gives no help at determining whether this  
> occidentalis subsp ever occurs in OR.  Obviously OBOL is the best  
> place to ask this question.
>
> Does the White phase (occidentalis) Great Blue Heron occur in OR?   
> How would one distinguish one from the commonly seen Great Egrets?
>
> Peter Patricelli
> _______________________________________________
> obol mailing list
> obol at lists.oregonstate.edu
> http://lists.oregonstate.edu/mailman/listinfo/obol
>
> To unsubscribe, send a message to:
> obol-leave at lists.oregonstate.edu.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.oregonstate.edu/mailman/private/obol/attachments/20071102/22c5ff2a/attachment.htm