Snowy egret? [Just pics from your good ride]

[Patrick Moore]

On the last 2 rides or so around our acequia trails, I've started brilliantly white, medium-sized birds up from the irrigation ditches, a type I've not seen before this season. We have plenty of wild ducks and geese, and over the last 6 or 8 years, large blue/grey herons (I think they are herons) skulking around the irrigation ditches. The white birds are rather like smaller versions of the big herons  - that is, they are built on the same long and leggy pattern -- and, like the herons, hang around the ditches, and of course, flap away before you can whip out your iPhone and snap a shot.

So, 2 questions:

1. What other birds might look like this, and find themselves in high desert NM in summer?

(Note: This is a web photo, not mine. What I saw look somewhat like this, but I can't swear to the black legs or black beak -- was too busy trying to keep from falling over into the ditch on the right while dodging huge cottonwoods on the left while negotiating an 18" trail beset by large roots, cutaways, sand, and potholes -- and I suffer from mild acrophobia; any "teetery" situation makes me want to hyperventilate and sweat; and then, the Matthews is not at its best at slow-speed nimbleness.)

2. You photo experts: how does one catch snapshots of such suddenly appearing subjects without falling over? Instruments, techniques? 

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

[George Schick]

Patrick - when I want to identify a bird and other birds similar to it I use this website https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/   It's an excellent collection and it allows you to search by taxonomy as well as other keys.   BTW, I'm curious to know whether those who live in those desert climates such as yourself, Leah, etc. get to see various raptors soaring around on the strong thermals out there when you're on a ride.  If so, ever identify any?  Eagles, hawks, condors, etc.

[Robert Tilley]

I commonly see hawks and owls on my rides and I have seen ospreys before. My commute used to be on trails and when winter came and my commute home started at dusk I would often stir up owls and hawks from their perches on trail markers and would get to ride with them just off of my shoulder for a little while.

Robert Tilley

San Diego, CA 

Sent from my BlackBerry - the most secure mobile device

From: bhi...@gmail.com Sent: June 14, 2020 2:43 PM To: rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com Reply-to: rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com Subject: [RBW] Re: Snowy egret? [Just pics from your good ride]

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

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[Ray Varella]

Not sure about New Mexico Patrick but there are two common species of Egrets here.
The Snowy and the Greater.
The greater are a bit smaller than the Great Blue Herons you are seeing.
It sounds like you saw a Snowy.

Ray

[eddietheflay]

snowy have yellow feet, great have black feet.

[Deacon Patrick]

Hours of patience or dumb luck, neither of which guarantee results other than photos that look like proof of bigfoot, which is to say and indiscernable blob. That is why I prefer to hunt flowers and trees and snow and rain and landscapes. I'm fat and lazy. Grin. I see bald and goalden eagles, perigrin, osprey, bats, owles, herons, cranes, song birds of too many varieties to fathom, hummingbirds, and many others, and almost never try to photograph them.

With abandon,

Patrick 

[Deacon Patrick]

To add more specifics to answer your question:

- a 100-200 mm telephoto lens (minimum) and tripod go a long way to making fruitful a wait in a well chosen hide. These are, of course, unwieldy and impractical for impromptu shots on a bike. Grin.

- Short the above, an inexpensive point and shoot camera with image stabalization and decent telephoto (Canon Elph 180 or 190) are a quickdraw solution with a reasonable chance of success if kept in a handlebar "feed" style bag.

Those are the only two practical suggestions I have. In general, a mobile phone won't cut it for any but the lucky (or unlucky, if you get too close to the bear/moose/elk/couger/badger...) encounter with wildlife that pose. And, sometimes, they do.

With abandon,

Patrick 

[Patrick Moore]

Thanks, all, first of all for the bird ID and the link, and secondly for answering my naive question about snapshotting birds in takeoff. 

I think that the birds in question are indeed snowy egrets. Interesting; they're new to the area, or at least much more common now. I saw none last year. I first noticed the herons, IIRC, about 2013 or 2014; again, before that, not in evidence.

I wonder if climate change (generally, not just here) explains their arrival. Changes in habitat have certainly made the quail go away; they used to be very common 20 years ago.

At least 2 sorts hawks are also common here, the most common being the red tailed hawk.

I recall how robins started showing up in spring in my parents' backyard some 10 years ago; before then, I'd not seen one. And the long-tailed grackles (?) seem to have appeared and disappeared in the last 6 or 7 or so years.

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