Not a Little Blue…by Brad Marks

We are knee deep in props at the moment, troubleshooting mechanical issues (number one skill required for haunts for sure), finishing up this year’s new additions and installing a small truckload of batteries (easily over 600 range). Thanks to immense help from my brother Ron, I dare say we are either ahead or minimally on plan – I am cautious as we are ALWAYS working it right up to when the guests start arriving (Brad can confirm). This year, Linda added in a two day break from the prep work for a little relaxation and that started today. We our now in St Louis to see our favorite band AC/DC!! (technically tomorrow night). Since the tickets were purchased nearly a year ago, we have been keeping our fingers crossed both Angus and Brian would make it to the concert date – only 24 hrs left to worry ha. There has been a front-band change as the Pretty Reckless was a late swap out for the Foo Fighters – technically a trade up in star power, but we were really looking forward to seeing little Cindy Lou rock it out (link here – yes, that is Taylor Momsen). While Linda and I enjoy the remaining hours before near deafness , Brad is going to take the helm and bring you another adventure from their trip Down Under. Take care everyone and “For those about to rock, we salute you!” (link here).

Every now and then when Jan and I are photographing birds, I’m certain I know what the bird is.  At least I think I am.  That’s the case here, sort of.  However, I wasn’t even present when most of these photos were taken this time.  Let me explain.

Jan and I had gone different directions while on assignment in Cairns (pronounced “cans”) Australia.  Seeing the Great Barrier Reef was one of my life goals.  That is, until the marine forecast called for 2-meter (6 foot) waves and a very small boat.  I decided to stay on solid ground and keep breakfast down while Jan decided to brave the 2-meter waves on the Coral Sea to go see the Great Barrier Reef. 

The excursion catamaran took Jan to Green Island, about 27 kilometers, or 45 minutes off the coast of Australia perched atop the Great Barrier Reef.  The sea was quite rough that day so Jan decided not to snorkel.  Plus, she had one of our cameras, so snorkeling was really out of the question.  Besides, we left our underwater camera at home for this adventure.  (Small disclosure, we’ve seen and photographed many coral reefs in the past, and this one looked to be similar to the other ones, so I didn’t feel too horrible about missing it, even though it is the Great Barrier Reef.)  Jan opted to leave the big glass (200-500mm) in the hotel room, in favor of the small travel lens (18-200mm) because it was a bit easier to handle and keep dry on a small rocking boat.

Green Island is only accessible by boat or helicopter.  It is populated strictly by tourists during the day, or by a few lucky souls staying overnight at the resort.  There is a small resort that guests would stay over for a night or two, a couple of restaurants and bars, and limited shopping on the small island. 

There are no permanent residents.  Most of the island has partially paved trails, some raised wooden decking, and sand beaches completing the circuit around the island.  You can circle the island by alternating between the beach and the trails.  Green Island is small enough (1.6km or about 1 mile circumference) to casually walk completely around in under an hour if you don’t stop to take dozens (or hundreds) of bird photos.  Jan found most of the tourists stayed near the shopping areas and were not on the trails or the beaches furthest away from the pier.

The early prediction market odds are leaning to “you might get this ID wrong”. Take your guess, put your money down and hit the jump to see if you are today’s winner!

After this point in the story, almost everything I’ve written that follows is what Jan told me after she returned from the tour.  All of these photos are hers save one at the end. 

While some members on the tour donned their swimwear to snorkel at beaches around the island, Jan began to wander around the island anti-clockwise.  Jan made the island loop a couple of times, took the trails through the foliage and usually empty beach hunting for that perfect photo.  Taking multiple laps provided weather changes from sunny, to partly cloudy, to full cloud cover.  

This bird was one of the first things to greet Jan when she arrived on the island.  It was looking for human leftovers, either on purpose or accidentally discarded. It did not seem to be afraid of humans in the slightest. 

What I thought was an Australian version of the Little Blue Heron, turned out not to be.  Jan had found a Pacific Reef-heron (Egretta sacra), definitely a +1 for us.  I didn’t know this when I first saw her photos.  I had also seen one on the tidal flats near Cairns, so I only took a few photos because I thought it was the same bird we have at home.  Except it wasn’t.  Later in the day, I found several differences, with the help of a few online sites.  Even I could see their head and leg colors were different.  I only found out for sure while reviewing the day’s efforts on my tablet later in the day. 

I know, I know, get back to the birds please. 

The Little Blue heron can have a slightly maroon colored head, where the Pacific Reef-heron is all blue/dark-grey.  Bill color is also different.  The Little Blue bill can be blue with a narrow black tip.  The Pacific has a slightly broader bill before it narrows at the tip, and it is brownish/bluish with yellow at the very end. 

Little Blues have greenish legs where the Pacific reef-heron has yellow below the ankle and pale blue above.  Both are usually found in the shallows at the edge of the water.  Both remain motionless when prey is nearby, holding intense stares.  Both eat pretty much whatever they can catch and swallow.

To the casual observer, it’s very hard to tell them apart based on size.  OK, geography plays a large part in the identification.  But if House Sparrows can be found on the four continents we’ve visited, why not herons?  Little Blue and Pacific-Reef Herons are within an inch or two of each other for length and wingspan, with the Pacific being slightly shorter and having a slightly longer wingspan.  Both weigh about 14 ounces (400 grams).  The Pacific has a slightly thicker bill and appears slightly more hunched.  Again, if they were side by side, the comparison would be easier.  However, their territories do not overlap in the slightest with an entire ocean between them in both directions.

Jan said the trails were popular but not very crowded.  But the trails were just crowded enough that she had to wait for tourists to clear for a clean photo of some of the birds and for the noise to dissipate.  Guess what Jan also spotted lurking in the foliage on her walk around Green Island?

The white heron was in the bushes by the resort after being frightened by a medical helicopter landing to ferry a heart patient back to the mainland.  There were also some very loud tourists around, and not from the U.S. for a change.  The white heron was about 15 feet (or five meters) from the edge of the trail into the foliage.  The heron alternated between the ground and perching depending on the noise level. Trying not to disturb it too much, Jan foot-zoomed so she could poke the travel lens between some leaves to take photos.

The Pacific Reef-Heron is polymorphic, existing in both dark and light morphs.  The Dark morph is more dark/grey or black in appearance depending on available light, while the light morph is what you would expect: white.

I think she found as many birds to photograph on Green Island as I did in the tidal flats near the hotel, including the weirdly equipped and plentiful Orange-Footed Megapode (Megapodius reinwardt), another +1.  She said there were almost as many Megapodes (here) on Green Island as we have House Sparrows at home, except these birds are crow-sized, and speedy quick.  Their feet are way too large for their body size, must be an evolutionary advantage of some kind.  She said they were the ADHD poster bird of the bird world, hyper-foraging, scratching, and protecting territory.  Even if you can’t see them, you can hear them scratching in the underbrush.

Later that afternoon, when Jan arrived back on mainland, one of the first things she said was that I would NOT have enjoyed the trip to/from Green Island.  Several of the people on the boat, none from our group, had reversals of fortune during the boat ride out and back.

That’s the end of Jan’s version of the day’s events, at least that’s all she’s telling me about the trip.  Back to the regularly scheduled story a couple of hours later in the day.

The sun was beginning to hang a bit lower in the northern sky (remember, everything seems upside down in Australia for us northerners) which meant it was time we both got cleaned up to go out for dinner.  We found a great Thai restaurant just around the corner from our hotel.  Jan and I like to visit restaurants at off-times so we can avoid crowds and usually have excellent service.  This time was no exception as we were the only ones seated for a while and had two servers taking care of us. 

Once back in the hotel room, I began the backup process (see Note at the End).  Lately, I have been creating a backup copy on my Galaxy Tab S9 (not an endorsement, but if anyone from Samsung wants to call the Wildlife Intrigued Legal department, I’m sure arrangements can be made for sponsorships).  This copy on my tablet also lets Jan review photos from the day so she can send herself copies (where Wifi allows) from the cameras to post on social media.  That’s really when I discovered that this was not a Little Blue Heron, but something else entirely.   Truthfully, every bird we photographed in Australia (except for the House Sparrow) was a +1 for us.

Other than most of the words, my only contribution to this story is the next photo. 

I was having a grand time photographing birds and talking to twitchers near the mud flats next to our hotel.  This bird showed up briefly so I took a few photos.  Besides, one of the mantras at Wildlife Intrigued is “No photo, didn’t happen”.  Even if it was “just” a Little Blue Heron blown a bit off course, I at least had an ID photo of it.  Or so I thought. 

As you all know by now, it was NOT a Little Blue heron.  But you all know that because you’ve made it to the end of the story.

Thank you for reading.  If you want to see more Pacific Reef-Heron photos, please visit here. 

Credits

Thanks again to Jan for proofreading and editing.  Thanks to Jan for all but one of the photos in this story.

Note at the End

As I mentioned earlier, after a day of shooting my practice is to make two (or three) copies of the photos immediately for several reasons.  Besides, Australia is a long way away to have to go back to recreate photos.  Not that I wouldn’t try, but with our Intrigued travel schedule it might be several years before we get the chance to go back Down Under.

First, I don’t want to lose any of the photos due to memory card failure.  This has happened to us more than once.  First time, the brand-new card failed hard right in the camera, never to be read from again.  Thankfully, I had only taken about 12 photos and could easily recreate them.  Another time, another brand-new card failed hard after I had completed my first attempt to copy the photos.  It had just worked 5 minutes ago and now neither the PC or the camera could see it at all.  In both cases the manufacturer apologized profusely and sent me replacement cards immediately.  Coincidentally, both failed cards were from the same purchase and manufacturing batch, but had failed about one year apart.  Now I take along two 5Tb ruggedized hard drives to copy photos onto at day’s end.

Second, I began using my tablet as a third copy, if I have enough room left on its internal 1 Tb microSDcard.  If the tablet supported a 2 Tb card, I’d have one of those installed lickety-split.  Having copies accessible on the tablet lets Jan review the photos each evening and e-mail herself the ones she wants to post right away. 

Lastly, I like to make sure I start the day with freshly formatted and empty cards in case I need to fill one to the brim.  Don’t laugh, it’s happened before.  I came within 19 shots (two or three quick bursts of the shutter at 8 fps) of completely filling the maximum size card my camera could handle, 32Gb at the time.  I know, you probably think we took too many photos.  Partially true.  That day, Jan and I had been on assignment for 10 hours without a visit back to the car or the hotel to change out memory cards.  Oh sure, I always carry spares in case I fill one, or one fails.  But who wants to stop what they are doing to switch cards because they forgot to clean it off first.

Someday soon I’m going to figure out how to have the cameras automatically copy photos to a smart device (phone or tablet) as I’m taking them.  I’ve seen people do this.  It does slow down the camera just a bit while it pushes photos to the external device.  But then I’ve automatically got two copies of each photo seconds after I take them.  If you’ve figured this out, please let us know how it works for you in the comments.