Heron ID Please?

[Andrew McLachlan]

I shot this little fella on the island of Cayo Santa Maria in Cuba and after looking through all my field guides and doing some internet searches I can't identify this heron. Obviously it is very similar to Green-backed Heron. If anyone knows the identity please let me know.

Nikon D200
80-400 @ 220mm (330 effective)
ISO 200
f5.6 @ 1/200 sec.
handheld - leaned on a post for stability

Look forward to comments.

[Brendan Dozier]

That is awesome, Andrew! Beautiful looking heron (can't help with ID though) Great job getting excellent exposure & details. Like the pose and BG, and the room you give on the rt for it to look into. Might try cropping on lft side a bit to move bird a bit more out of center.
Well done!

[Chris Kotze]

Super pose, well captured and exposed. To me it looks like a Black Egret however, that said I wonder where the green colours come from ?

[christopher galeski]

great photo,nice detail in the feathers,like the BG,the perch it is on the rock,from the middle to the left,is a bit hot,but stil a great shot,sorry can not help with ID.thanks.

[Pieter de Waal]

Sorry Andrew can't help with the ID but I do like the image. Nice soft light and great exposure has picked up the incredible green colour of the Heron. Would also consider a little crop on the left.

[David Gancarz]

This bird is from Cuba? I notice its bill is also dark bluish-green. Very odd. The shape of the bird, its eye, and physical shape of feathers are identical to a green heron. Perhaps some enterprising resort worker dyed a green heron for unknown reasons?? Beautiful photograph, btw.

[Greg Basco]

Andrew, don't know about the ID, and others have mentioned a couple of good suggestions for improvement but I just love the bird against that fantastic BG -- really cool.

Cheers,
Greg Basco

[David Gancarz]

According to Bond's Birds of the West Indies, there is a rufous phase green heron in Cuba, but the figure in the book is a line drawing. Probably not what you have here. I'm still putting my money on a resort worker's prank.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks folks for the comments thus far. Much appreciated. Hopefully someone will be able to chime in with identification. There were actually two of these birds at this small pond with identical coloration.

[denise ippolito]

Beautiful BG colors and a nice sharp bird. Well done.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Much thanks Denise!

[David Gancarz]

This from Dr. Jim Kushlan:

I'd been pointed to the photo recently. It is a Green Heron in a melanistic plumage. Probably the first recorded. Color wise, it looks very much like the subspecies of Striated Heron found on the Galapagos, sometimes called the Lava Heron for the dark plumage of a proportion of the population. There are other characteristics of that subspecies that this photo does not show. Herons often are reported in odd pluages. This one is a particularly attractive one, at least to us. Whether another Green Heron will think this attractive is another story.

Good to hear from you.

Jim

James A. Kushlan
Chair, IUCN Heron Specialist Group
260 Crandon Blvd, Suite 32 # 223, Key Biscayne FL 33149 USA

[Arthur Morris]

I would surely agree that this is a Green Heron, either a melanistic bird or a genetic variant. Loverly bird and image. Thanks for the link :)