Continuing on with the bird theme from a couple of weeks ago, I decided to focus on herons this week. When I used to live near Vancouver, I loved taking my dog for a walk along a river and would usually spot a great blue heron or two along the route. My current walking area doesn’t feature herons, but it does sometimes have animals like deer and moose (as well fox and coyotes tracks left overnight for the puppies to enjoy), so, I definitely can’t complain about a lack of things to see. At some point, I am hoping I will have both my dogs comfortable and calm enough while walking to take my camera out with me, but that is still a work in progress. But back to the herons.
The variety of herons that I have seen in Southern Africa is impressive, boasting a wide range of sizes and colourings. The striated, purple and squacco herons are on the smaller side, the grey heron is the size that comes to mind when I hear the word heron, and then there is the goliath, which is truly impressive in its stature. The one thing I never really understood was the naming of the purple heron, as the bird is more grey and rust coloured than what I would call purple. But, bird naming conventions (or renaming, as that seems to happen fairly frequently) isn’t something I can claim to understand.
On to the photos.
