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Show us your cranes, egrets, hamerkops, herons, pelicans and storks...


Tom Kellie

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offshorebirder

Here are some American White Pelican photos. I thought I had posted the first one on ST previously but cannot seem to find it anywhere.

 

* Click for larger versions.

 

This one shows a decent flock of American White Pelicans (and Roseate Spoonbills White Ibis and Double-crested Cormorant) at Bear Island Wildlife Management Area in South Carolina:

 

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This one may be over on the Birds in Flight thread:

 

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Edited by offshorebirder
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offshorebirder

Here is a Tricolored Heron - formerly known as Louisiana Heron - (Egretta tricolor) at Bear Island Wildlife Management Area in South Carolina.

 

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  • 2 months later...

A Green Heron doing his thing - back in the jungle where he thinks no one is watching behind Half Moon Bay in Akumal, on the east side of Mexico.

 

 

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Peter Connan

Love the last one!

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And the not so rare Crown crane, with a Puku in South Luangwa, Zambia

 

Population between 58 000 - 77 000 individuals

 

Status Endangered

 

I´ll find it strange that the most common one is the most endangered one...

 

 

 

That's because the status is based on more than just the total number of animals. It also accounts for population trends. Some animals have a naturally small distribution, island endemics for example, so will never reach really high population numbers. If for example the population of a rail on some island has been stable over the last 3 decades, hovering around 500 animals, and another bird's population has dwindled in the same period from 500,000 to 100,000, which one is more trouble? Usually the periods are measured in generation times of the particular species.

 

There's a similar thing with those cranes (grey crowned and wattled, I don't know too much about the black-necked). The grey crowned is widespread but has undergone considerable population declines, while the wattled crane has a more restrictred distribution and the population trends isn't all that well known. In some areas they seem to be doing well (Okavango, Liuwa), from others virtually nothing is known, but also new populations are discovered (Zambezi delta).

 

What worries me most about cranes in Africa is the increase in the use of pesticides and insecticides in areas where cranes are foraging and breeding. This might have a big impact on hatching rates. But as cranes tend to live long and only raise 1-2 chicks each time they breed it might take time for these effects to become noticeable but once they do it's already too late as the old breeding adults die, and are not being replaced by new breeding adults. Much like some of the black cockatoos in Australia.

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  • 2 months later...

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Black-headed Heron at Lake Nakuru



Taken on 5 October, 2014 at 10:40 am in Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya, using an EOS 1D X camera with an EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II super-telephoto lens


ISO 125, f/2.8, 1/2000 sec., 400mm handheld Shutter Priority shooting mode in a safari van guided by @@Anthony Gitau of Bigmac Africa Safaris.


**********************************************************************************************************************************************************


~ Lake Nakuru in the morning is typically a low-key experience. Few vehicles around, with both birds and mammals feeding with minimal signs of visitor-induced stress.


We'd been observing a female ostrich crossing the track, when I noticed this Ardea melanocephala, Black-headed Heron, watching us.

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  • 3 months later...

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Ardea cinerea in Shanghai's Dongtan Nature Reserve



Taken on 7 January, 2017 at 3:07 pm in Shanghai's Dongtan Nature Reserve, using an EOS 1D X camera with an EF 400mm f/5.6L super-telephoto lens


ISO 2000, f/5.6, 1/400 sec., 400mm handheld Manual shooting mode during steady rain on a heavily overcast afternoon.


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~ The Yangtze River enters the East China Sea slightly northeast of Shanghai. A long, rectangular island, Chongmingdao, 崇明岛, is at the river mouth, at the eastern end of which is Dongtan Nature Reserve.


While visiting there, this Ardea cinerea, Grey Heron, flew past, its powerful wingbeats carrying it through the downpour. It's reassuring that such a magnificent bird lives not far from a major urban area.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...
offshorebirder

I think this thread is where Bitterns should go. I ran across this cute little bird this past Saturday.

 

Least Bittern (Ixobrychus exilis) out in the open on the edge of a canal. Yawkey Wildlife Center, South Carolina.

 

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Edited by offshorebirder
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Posing Pelican

Pelicans take Off

 

Brown Pelicans near Ponce de Leon, FL.

 

 

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  • 10 months later...

Out to my local bird sanctuary today for Easter. Absolutely beautiful day for birding!

Great Blue Heron and a Black Crowned Night Heron who was not interested!

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  • 1 month later...
offshorebirder

This is a Least Bittern I saw this past Saturday that was uncharacteristically feeding out in the open.  Kind of posing like a bird in an Audubon print.

 

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Edited by offshorebirder
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  • 2 years later...

Sandhill cranes at Cochise Lake in Willcox AZ

 

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Edited by Patty
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~ @Patty:

 

WOW !!!!!!!!!!

 

Thank you for posting these images/video.

 

Beautiful photography.

 

              Tom K.

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  • 2 years later...
offshorebirder

Little Blue Heron about to eat a small fish it caught in Mullet Pond, Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina.

 

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