It’s Sunday, and that means a themed batch of bird photos from John Avise. John’s notes and captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them. I found the difference between juvenile and adult Night Herons particularly striking.
Juvenile Versus Adult Plumages
Even after juvenile birds have grown to a full adult body size, their plumages may still differ strikingly from those of breeding adults. This week’s post show several extreme examples of what I am talking about—instances in which immature or sub-adult birds have not yet molted into the adult breeding plumages of their species, and thus look very different from those respective adult birds.
Juvenile Heermann’s Gull (Larus heermanni):
Adult Heermann’s Gull:
Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax):
Adult Black-crowned Night Heron:
Juvenile Least Tern (Sterna antillarum):
Adult Least Tern:
Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperi):
Adult Cooper’s Hawk:
Juvenile Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana):
Adult Western Bluebird:
Juvenile Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum):
Adult Cedar Waxwing:
Juvenile Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis):
Adult Brown Pelican:
Juvenile Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea):
Adult Little Blue Heron:
Nice shots. Textbook quality and beyond.
A perfect set of photos for Father’s Day. Wonderful photos!
Wow! I especially love that decked-out Brown Pelican.
Good theme and photos! Two others that I find striking are the Painted Bunting (dull olive-green immature, brilliant blue/red/green adult male) and Black-and-chestnut Eagle (immature white, adult black with chestnut trim).
What stark differences. Very enlightening, thanks John! Always a treat, these Sunday RWPs
Outstanding shots John!