Juvenile Little Blue Herons

I spotted one of them last week, and it took some research for me to figure out exactly what it was. This weekend, I found that there are actually at least 3 of them at my local lake. They let me get pretty close as they were fishing (and fighting). I'm hoping they stay around, and I can capture their changing colors.

Thanks for looking, and C&C always appreciated.

1.

great set,

Love 'em all, but the fourth and the last are my favorites. Wish we had more of these around here.

Great set of shots - #2 is very amusing lol.

Linda

Wow-would've never guessed the young ones were white. Thanks for sharing-like them all!

Thanks for the kind comments. Until last week, I had not seen any LBHs, much less a juvie. I followed one from a distance thinking it was a snowy egret. When I finally got him in the viewfinder, I had no idea what he was. Then an adult LBH flew to him and forced him to move. At first, I thought maybe I was watching juvenile Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons. A couple of days later, I looked at the photos on the computer, and decided to check the Internet for identification.

After, realizing what they actually were, I've been hoping to get close for some good shots, which finally happened this weekend.

One of the joys of beginning to photograph birds is that I'm often shooting something I can't identify, and then learning about the species afterward.

Very nice series of close ups Doug. #2 is a young Snowy Egret.

Nighthound wrote in post #14694620
Very nice series of close ups Doug. #2 is a young Snowy Egret.

As is the center bird in the first image. The rest are juvenile LBH's though.

Nice shots though.

Very nice series, I like the last one best

Nighthound wrote in post #14694620
Very nice series of close ups Doug. #2 is a young Snowy Egret.

Billginthekeys wrote in post #14696114
As is the center bird in the first image. The rest are juvenile LBH's though.

Nice shots though.

Thanks. The center bird in #1 and #2 are the same. The other shots are of one bird. I'll go back through my images to figure out about the 3rd bird.

I appreciate your help. Here's a shot with all 3 birds. The LBH(?) on the left flew off after the confrontation. The middle bird is the LBH that came back and gave me the close-ups. The bird on the right is the snowy. I didn't see bright yellow feet, so I assumed it wasn't a snowy, but after zooming in, I can see a difference in the feet. Hopefully, I'll get back out there tomorrow morning.

I use the bill as an indicator when the birds feet or legs are not visible. LBHs have a two tone bill from tip to their lores. Their lores are also greenish and Snowies are always bright yellow.

It's not clear whether juvi LBHs join up with Snowies because they see them as their own(or relative) or if they simply use the similarity to their advantage, for safety and better feeding opportunities.