[obol] Great White Heron in OR

[Diane Cavaness]

My best bird misconception story:

My husband and I were scoping Eagle Marsh at Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge in 2003, when a couple drove up, 
got out, looked at the swans, and said, "Oh look! Egrets."  We told them they were Tundra Swans, and showed them the Great Egret near the back of the marsh, which they insisted was a cattle egret, and said that they had seen them around Oregon riding cows!

Diane Cavaness in Brookings
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Dan Gleason 
  To: peterpatricelli 
  Cc: OBOL list 
  Sent: Friday, November 02, 2007 1:46 PM
  Subject: Re: [obol] Great White Heron in OR


  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  
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