Striated Heron
This is the same Striated Heron as the previous photo, and the only other shot that came out in focus and sharp(ish). This bird was hunting, it would stand perfectly still then either carefully move forward a few steps before freezing again, or dart down into the water and bring up something to eat.
Common Names: Striated Heron, Mangrove Heron, Striated Bittern, Mangrove Bittern
Scientific Name: Butorides striatus
Length: 50cm
Habitat: Coastal fringes of Northern and Eastern Australia in Mangroves, sandbanks and tidal mudflats.
View all photos taken: Wednesday, 1st November 2006, This photo: 3:44pm
Beautiful - the neck is muck shorter than mine and the bill is blue!
Great photo!
Seen on your photo stream. (?)
Thanks Ulla, yep, these are little guys. It was the small, stream-lined look that caught my eye from across the mangroves. :)
We've also got White-faced Herons (also known as Blue Cranes, despite being grey), and Great Egrets.
my neck doesnt look anything like this birds, have I lost the plot somewhere ......
Are you trying to tell us something Helen, you're not actually from Dorset at all are you? You're really from Sweden and have been masquerading all this time!
I have lost the plot ....... hee hee,
there is a saying about Dorset people.....Dorset born and Dorset bred, strong in the arm and thick in the head
thats not nice, any road up I'm not from these parts ye ken, sa dunna fash tha sen
goes off to make much needed cup of coffee, no doubt some kind Yorkshire person will correct my spelling
Oh, btw nice bird photos.. !!
Wonderful shot!!
Hmmm, you've let that parrot get to the keyboard again haven't you ? Either that or caffeine deficiency has an interesting effect on Yorkies ;-)
Thanks Maria - I've had a very birdie day today, it started off with a kookaburra down the road, then some cattle egrets, a cockatoo and some crows at the station, then a family of wood ducks spotted from the train, and on my walk I saw two pacific black ducks, more crows, the striated heron, a few ibis, some noisy minors, a willy wag-tail (unfortunately the shots were blurred), some magpie larks, an unidentified green bird with a crest, another kookaburra and some house sparrows.
Beautiful photo. The water looks fantastic. The colours of the bird and water are very harmonic.