Taken on the coast of Connecticut today on June 18th. Sorry the IQ is so crummy it was really far away. Nikon D90, Tamron 200-500, 500mm, F/7.1, iso 450, 1/1000th -.33ev It was pretty large and first thought swan or crane. But it does not match up with the only known crane species in CT, which is a sandhill. It is obviously not a swan:) One speculation was a young little blue heron. Wondering what the experts here thought? It flew the entire time with its neck extended although it does have a small crook. Exif shows 42m/ 136 feet. It also had a few mottled spots on top of its wings... Thanks in advance!
Hi Kristofer- I will not pretend to have an answer for you but can explore a few options.
First the overall look is of a heron/egret, not a crane. Herons sometimes fly with their necks outstretched. You say the bird was large; Little Blue Herons are, well, "little", at least small relative to many other heron/egrets. Also they have light coloured legs and feet. The dark (almost black?) legs and feet of your bird suggests a Great Egret, as does your perception of large size. The markings are splotchy and uneven, suggesting a young Little Blue moulting to adult plumage but I think in your case the markings could be some sort of fouling by dirt or oil. Could this be the reason the legs/feet are dark?? Could the bird be a dirty Little Blue?
Very interested to hear what others think.
Last edited by John Chardine; 06-19-2012 at 09:06 AM.
This looks like an oiled bird to me as well. Maybe it's just the exposure but the dark spots look SO dark and very solid. The only feathers I'd expect to be this dark on a molting Little Blue would be the flight feathers. I'd also expect to see more general "munginess" in the bird rather than just solid dark feather tracts.
Stumped on this crane or young heron of some kind
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