Electric Blue

UPDATE: Thanks to the keen eye and birding expertise of Ted Jennings (link here), I’ve learned something new as a result of this post. My original identification of this post’s featured feathered friend was an immature Little Blue Heron. This was based on the overall white coloring, dark legs and the two toned bill…and not seeing the markers for the other options pointed out in the original post. Ted brought up the possibility of something I had not considered, the much rarer white morph of the Reddish Egret. They have very similar markings to the immature Little Blue, but are a bit larger and more distinctly have, a “shaggy” feathering on their head and neck. That fits my specimen perfectly! Updated my post accordingly – THANK YOU TED!! It is a good day whenever I can grow my birding knowledge.

Greetings everyone! I have been a bit out of pocket since we started or migration south just before the start of the New Year. Always a hassle to get from overnight camp to the next stop and then the connectivity can be sketchy, although, admittedly I must admit, Internet access via phone or local Wi-Fi is much better than just a few years ago. Guessing a surprise benefit of the Covid years. From the trip perspective, we have been lucky enough to meet up with some friends of ours who moved out to Benson, AZ. Always good to catch up on the latest activities in person – novel idea eh? (for the record, I am NOT a Facebook user). Birding has also been good, now up 67 birds for our Average Year ’24 which includes 5 lifers so far – that means 5 more posts coming out say sometime in late 2027 hehehe. Some of us at Intrigued have an embarrassing large backlog. There has been one glaring negative to this point (and likely to carry well into next week)…IT’S COLD!  I know, shocking to hear someone from the Midwest say that in January, but remember we travel south to get away from the heartland tundra. We are not ruling out that we were voodoo cursed while in New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl back in 2002. Ever since then, we have brought unseasonably cold weather to whatever destination we vacation – just ask Texas about the ice storm they had a few years back. So far we have just missed snow in New Mexico and bracing for freezing temps the next couple of nights here in Arizona ugh. It is what it is, but the birds have still been active and my brother Ron is flying down here today to add to his checklist – writing this post as we wait for his flight to arrive. 

To warm up a bit, thought I would feature an encounter from last year’s human migration.

Hit the jump to see a few more shots of this “Electric Blue”.

Some of you may actually recognize this particular spot. Over the year’s I have featured many posts featuring our finds at South Padre Island Bird Viewing and Nature Center. One of my top 5 birding locations of all the places we’ve birded to this point. Want to experience a good swath of the birds hanging out in southern Texas – this is the place. Their nice boardwalks will keep you out of the muck, the times we have been there have been pretty much bugless and best of all, the inhabitants are fairly tolerant of bustling humans. Conditions for a photographer’s paradise.

On the far side of the center, the boardwalks crosses between the heavier reeded banks to the right and a larger, more open pond/backwater area. The log you see here is in the middle of that open water … and I absolutely love it. Not only is it a favorite perch for the resident birds, it sits to the north which allows you to get detail especially on the white birds that you usually fight the blowouts on. On this visit I found a Little Blue Heron – corrected white morph Reddish Egret, nicely posing.

Could you tell it was also a very windy day ha! I could have stood there and shot the day away – well, based on the digital card contents, I’d say that was true. Of all the shots I poured through, the one below is my favorite. What do you get when a Heron sticks its talon in a light socket…

I just really like all the flow in the plumes that typically gets lost as they hunt closer to the water’s edge. 

This is probably a good time to clear up a common confusion between the large white waders. There are several tall, primarily white birds that roam the various bodies of water in the US. The Great Egret, the Snowy Egret, the Little Blue Heron and the newly made aware option, the white morph Reddish Egret are four that tend to look similar without a closer look.

Great Egrets are significantly larger than the other two (link here). In case you do not have a size reference, look for the greenish coloring on their lores (area between the eye and the bill). The Snowy Egrets are easy to tell if you can see their feet – they wear yellow galoshes wherever they go (link here). Feet in the water…try to spot the yellow on the lores. Then there is the Little Blue Heron. It is the name that throws people off. In their adult form, they are predominantly blue and not white (link here). The immatures are white. You can ID them by the absence of the bill/feet coloring mentioned earlier for the other two options. I happen to always look for the two-toned bill. Then there is the white morph Reddish Egret which admittedly, wasn’t really up to speed on. They look very similar to the immature Little Blues however they are slightly larger, have a thicker two-toned bill, darker legs and more importantly shaggy feathering on their head and neck. The shot below shows all those features.

Immature’s Little Blues and white morph Reddish Egrets have a pinkish bill starting at the base that transitions to darker near the tip. If you need a visual, think of the old glass “Bar Birds” as I call it that would tip back and forth into the glass – in this case filled with ink (I might be dating myself on that reference). From a behavior perspective, Little Blues are far more active hunting than Great Egrets and Snowies. Great Egrets pretty much sit there and wait for food to be delivered. Snowies will work a little bit if they have to – swish their feet around or hop a bit to a better spot. Little Blues will pants off dance off to win their meals. Reddish Egrets will absolutely tear up the dance floor, but tend to raise their wings to produce a shadow on the water. Our specimen here was taking a dance break! Brad actually had a post with a side by side comparison of the Snowy and the immature Little Blue (link here).

Ron’s plane just landed, so need go. Apologies for my absence off and on for awhile as we move our basecamps. Brad is all ready to fill the gaps. Take care.

A big thanks to Ted again for the assist on the post – really appreciate it!