White Bird / by It’s a Beautiful Day / 1968
“White bird must fly …”
I’m officially old.
I take pictures of birds.
Years back I saw a pure white Heron in a marsh outside of town.
Pure white. It was beautiful!
I knew this was rare because in all my years in Alberta
I had never seen one before – or since.
But what was that bird???
I thought it might be an Egret, but Egrets don’t range up this far.
Upon much investigation I think I’ve finally solved the mystery.
Wikipedia says this:
“The Great Blue Heron is found throughout most of North America …”
And it is known that Great Blue Herons can sometimes be white!!!
That’s right. Pure white.
The above images are of a white Great Blue Heron I found on the internet
and a Great Blue Heron that I photographed in Calgary last week.
I stitched the two photos together so show that it is indeed the same bird.
Amazing!!
Here’s the other pics we shot at the pond.
Rose first spotted the Heron flying across the pond
and I snapped a quick shot.
We watched where he landed and …
… were able to get a couple of decent shots.
He agreeably posed for us.
Then he headed off.
There’s a big unresolved debate as to whether the white Great Blue Herons are a “morph” or an entirely different species.
I can only show and tell my own experience.
They look identical except for their color.
That’s all I know …
Except that they are beautiful to see.
For me, a decent day of amateur bird photography.
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Marilyn ! thank you for your comment and information.
A nice experience all around.
What is the address I may send it to? – should they be interested.
Herons do tend to stand very still for long periods of time. They ignore. They are watching for fish. Birds do show up in the wrong colors. I’ve never seen one is quite such a different color, but I’ve had orange cardinals and slate blue flickers. I also had a blue jay with a white crest rather than a blue one. Save that picture. I’ll give you an address to which to send it. Cornell collects pictures of these birds that show up in the wrong colors. It can be very confusing for those of us who watch them because I would have automatically assumed that was an egret — a white cattle egret. But you are right, they are the same bird. Congratulations on getting photos of a rare bird of which you may never see another.