Unusual heron spotted

Saurophaganax

Hey folks

I was taking a stroll and took a snap of this heron, which I think looks somewhat unusual. It appears to be a shade lighter than your average Grey Heron, has a less varied plumage and lacks a black crest. Is this a subspecies or just an unusual individual?

Any help would be great.

Cheers,
S.

tricky D

Quite possibly a juvenile Grey Heron.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Yes, it's just an immature Grey Heron. It's missing the white head and broad black supercilium of the adult.
Nice photo though.

dodderangler

I seen what looked like an albino one last week in a football field.
Was lashing out. Looked like a heron. Long slender beak and was standing on one leg resting. As I got closer to it it looked a lot more like an egret.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Little Egrets are now common along the coast from Cork to Down. I have a pair in the bog beside my house.

dodderangler

Thatcher Salty Stranger wrote: »

Little Egrets are now common along the coast from Cork to Down. I have a pair in the bog beside my house.

Not doubting they are here. But a km away from dublin mountains in a football field?
Must be a shamrock rovers egret

Jimjay

dodderangler wrote: »

Not doubting they are here. But a km away from dublin mountains in a football field?
Must be a shamrock rovers egret

I have seen little egrets on the east coast in county wicklow. A good chance of seeing them in newcastle.

Birdnuts

dodderangler wrote: »

Not doubting they are here. But a km away from dublin mountains in a football field?
Must be a shamrock rovers egret

There coming inland too - flushed one from a drain on Naas racecourse a few months back. Have been seen on the Blessington Lakes as well.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

dodderangler wrote: »

Not doubting they are here. But a km away from dublin mountains in a football field?
Must be a shamrock rovers egret

But you are doubting. Of course you would get a little egret there. Anywhere along the east coast where you might see a grey heron, you could have little egret. They even nest in colonies together. The Dublin mountains are along the east coast after all. They don't just hug the shoreline. My home is 10km from the sea and they are regulars here.

cuddlycavies

dodderangler wrote: »

Not doubting they are here. But a km away from dublin mountains in a football field?
Must be a shamrock rovers egret

They're in Corkagh Park

olly_mac

Saw a few in Tymon Park in Tallaght over the past few years too.

megadodge

There was a pair little egrets frequenting the river beside my workplace in Roscommon town (min. of 50 miles from nearest coast) last spring. I had a number of colleagues watching them as I thought they might be nesting. They didn't, unfortunately.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

megadodge wrote: »

There was a pair little egrets frequenting the river beside my workplace in Roscommon town (min. of 50 miles from nearest coast) last spring. I had a number of colleagues watching them as I thought they might be nesting. They didn't, unfortunately.

Give them time and they probably will nest. Anywhere you get grey Heron you can now get Little Egrets - they nest in true same colonies as well

OpenYourEyes

megadodge wrote: »

There was a pair little egrets frequenting the river beside my workplace in Roscommon town (min. of 50 miles from nearest coast) last spring. I had a number of colleagues watching them as I thought they might be nesting. They didn't, unfortunately.

Is that somewhere at the south end of town? I think they've been seen on the River Hind in Moate Park in recent years, and I had one on Lough Funshinagh between Roscommon and Athlone today too.

Definitely not a coastal bird.

megadodge

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

Is that somewhere at the south end of town? I think they've been seen on the River Hind in Moate Park in recent years, and I had one on Lough Funshinagh between Roscommon and Athlone today too.

Definitely not a coastal bird.

They were on the 'Jiggy' which goes across behind the mart, across the Athlone Road, then across the Golf Links Road and there between that and the Antogher Road beside the new Government buildings (where I work) is where I saw them.

The strange thing is I've always regarded the Jiggy as a very dirty, polluted river, with very poor flow due to dredging, yet there have been at least three sightings of otters there in the last 2/3 years along with resident breeding mallard and water hens with regular visits from grey herons.

OpenYourEyes

megadodge wrote: »

They were on the 'Jiggy' which goes across behind the mart, across the Athlone Road, then across the Golf Links Road and there between that and the Antogher Road beside the new Government buildings (where I work) is where I saw them.

The strange thing is I've always regarded the Jiggy as a very dirty, polluted river, with very poor flow due to dredging, yet there have been at least three sightings of otters there in the last 2/3 years along with resident breeding mallard and water hens with regular visits from grey herons.

Wow! Never would have guessed there'd be Otters there! I'd be fairly surprised if they were on the Hind, nevermind the Jiggy! Decades ago when my Dad was young that river used to be good for small fish apparently, but it always seems very clogged with vegetation so I'm surprised there'd still be fish there!

megadodge

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

Wow! Never would have guessed there'd be Otters there! I'd be fairly surprised if they were on the Hind, nevermind the Jiggy! Decades ago when my Dad was young that river used to be good for small fish apparently, but it always seems very clogged with vegetation so I'm surprised there'd still be fish there!

I suspect the otters were maybe youngsters (didn't see them myself) making their way out in the big bad world and checking out any 'new' waterway to them. I don't think they stayed around as it's been well over a year since any sighting.