| Photo Information |
| Copyright: Richard Hebert (rhebert) (68) |
| Genre: Animals |
| Medium: Color |
| Date Taken: 2007-06-16 |
| Categories: Birds |
| Camera: Canon PowerShot S2 IS |
| Exposure: f/4, 1/500 seconds |
| More Photo Info: [view] |
| Photo Version: Original Version |
| Date Submitted: 2007-12-19 15:48 |
| Viewed: 799 |
| Points: 0 |
|
| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Great Blue Heron
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Ciconiiformes
Family: Ardeidae
Genus: Ardea
Species: A. herodias
Binomial name
Ardea herodias
Linnaeus, 1758
The Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias, is a wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common over most of North and Central America as well as the West Indies and the Galápagos Islands, except for the far north and deserts and high mountains where there is no water for it to feed in.
It is the largest North American heron, with a head-to-tail length of 91–137 cm (36-54 in), a wingspan of 180 cm (71 in), and a weight of 2.2–3.6 kg (4.8-8 lbs). It is blue-gray overall, with black flight feathers, red-brown thighs, and a paired red-brown and black stripe up the flanks; the neck is rusty-gray, with black and white streaking down the front; the head is paler, with a nearly white face, and a pair of black plumes running from just above the eye to the back of the head. The feathers on the lower neck are long and plume-like; it also has plumes on the lower back at the start of the breeding season. The bill is dull yellowish, becoming orange briefly at the start of the breeding season, and the lower legs gray, also becoming orangey at the start of the breeding season. Immature birds are duller in color, with a dull blackish-gray crown, and the flank pattern only weakly defined; they have no plumes, and the bill is dull gray-yellow.[1][2][3]
There are five subspecies:[1]
Ardea herodias herodias Linnaeus, 1758. Most of North America, except as below.
Ardea herodias fannini Chapman, 1901. The Pacific Northwest from southern Alaska south to Washington; coastal.
Ardea herodias wardi Ridgway, 1882. Kansas and Oklahoma to northern Florida.
Ardea herodias occidentalis Audubon, 1835. Southern Florida, Caribbean islands.
Ardea herodias cognata Bangs, 1903. Galápagos Islands. |
Only registered TrekNature members may rate photo notes. |
|
![Silver Note Writer [C: 2 W: 0 N: 42]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/n-n-s.gif)
(112)
Richard-
Maine pics and a Canon ultrazoom compact- can't be all bad! Very nice capture- does this include any digital zoom? Also, how far away were you? My experience with great blues is that they don't like to be photographed and most of the time they bolt before you are really within range, even with that 400+ mm equivalent lens you have.
Keep up the good work on Maine wildlife.
BobH