It’s been a while since we’ve had a “spot the” contest, and Matthew has obliged by taking a photo on a walk yesterday. This photo, which contains a heron, was taken only 5 minutes from his house in Manchester. Can you spot the Grey Heron (Ardea cineria)? Click to enlarge.
Answer at noon Chicago time. I rate this one “pretty easy,” but hell, what else are we going to do locked in?
For the first time ever I rate one of these as easy-peasy… it probably helps to be familiar with habits of this species though 😀
If you enlarge the image drastically, you see one, but more likely two, next to each other.
I didn’t enlarge to that extent so I only saw a single heron clearly (it also stood out to me because it was behaving exactly like the heron that used to frequent our lake at work)… time for another look.
Easy-peasy appears the operative term.
I often have difficulty, especially with insects such as katydids, but not this time.
I can see a small wading bird but it is smaller than I would expect a heron to be. I can also see a blobby thing that might be a heron’s head and neck.
I noticed a scaling effect which threw my perception
Not a photography error but the elements themselves- with the distant church… hmmm… as if the photo wasn’t taken on the ground (as expected) but a good way up from ground level.
Got it!
I’d call that one level up from easy.
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Found it! Not quite easy.
Yeah, easy. But as others have pointed out, it looks like there is another one or two wading birds of some sort perched in the reeds(?) At the water’s edge near the right edge of the picture.
Since the coloration matches the reeds and you have to zoom in to see it, it’s probably just an illusion. It really looks like a couple of birds though.
I can see by the lack of leaves and visible buds on the trees that spring has not quite sprung in Manchester. In Idaho we are just beginning to see a change in the cast of characters. Winter juncos, gold finches, and white-crowned sparrows are giving way to blue heron, cormorants, and red-winged blackbirds.
One heron feeding. Are those heron nests in the distant trees?
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If we are looking at the same things, I’d guess tent caterpillar nests. If those were in SW Virginia, that’s what they would be.
You sure that isn’t someones lawn flamingo?
I know the color is off, but the shape…
I found it but the tags reminded me that we haven’t had a nightjar search for some time I think. Not that I could ever find the darn things anyway.