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Today is Sunday, ergo we have a themed set of bird photos by John Avise. John’s narrative and IDs are indented, and click on the photos to enlarge them.
Great, Greater, and Magnificent
Several avian species in North America have the words Great, Greater, or Magnificent in their official common names. These are the subjects of this week’s post. Usually, the use of such descriptive epithets is to distinguish these birds from closely related species with the words Little, Lesser, or Least in their common names. But sometimes, the designations are used simply because the birds are — well — magnificent! The state where each photo was taken is indicated in parentheses.
Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias (Texas):
Great Blue Heron flying (California):
Great Blue Heron landing (California):
Great Egret, Ardea alba (California):
Great Egret flying (California):
Great Blue Heron with Great Egret (California):
Great Black-backed Gull, Larus marinus (Florida):
Greater Roadrunner, Geococcyx californianus (California):
Greater Yellowlegs, Tringa melanoleuca (California):
Greater Yellowlegs flying (California):
Greater White-fronted Goose, Anser albifrons (California):
Magnificent (Rivoli’s) Hummingbird, Eugenes fulgens (Arizona):
Magnificent Hummingbird flying (Arizona):
Magnificent Frigatebird, Fregata magnificens (Florida):
Magnificent Frigatebird juvenile (Florida):
Great photos! No, Magnificent! 😊. Especially that brilliant hummer. What a jewel.
Do you ever feel a bit sorry for the birds called Lesser something?
Magnificent, as always!
These were great, greater and magnificent! Thanks.
As usual a really nice set of pictures. Now if only I could tell the difference between a greater yellowlegs and a lesser yellowlegs without having them stand next to each other. The greater is about 3″ larger than the lesser but they are otherwise very similar. And don’t get me started on greater and lesser scaups that differ by about 1″ on average and are as far as I can see identical except in DNA!
Sundays are always a treat thanks to Mr. Avise’s photos. That landing Great Blue Heron looks like he just swallowed a small animal!
Indeed, the heron was in a field hunting pocket gophers (Thomomys bottae) when I took that picture.