Costa Rica March 2022
Scientific classification
Domain:Eukaryota
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Pelecaniformes
Family:Ardeidae
Genus:Egretta
Species:E. caerulea
Scientific classification
Domain:Eukaryota
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Pelecaniformes
Family:Ardeidae
Genus:Egretta
Species:E. caerulea
Binomial name
Egretta caerulea
Songs and Calls
Usually silent; squawks when alarmed. Various croaks and screams at nesting colonies.
Family
Herons, Egrets, Bitterns
Small heron with strikingly different adult and immature plumages. Adult is distinctive: mostly grayish-blue with a contrasting deep purplish head and neck. Also note greenish legs and bicolored bill. Immatures are all white in their first year, with tiny dark tips on the outer wingtips. Take care to separate from Snowy Egret; note Little Blue always has dull greenish legs, grayish or greenish lores, and usually a two-toned bill. Little Blue also forages more slowly, often pausing for long periods of time with neck outstretched and bill pointed down. In their first spring, Little Blues start to show splotches of gray-blue plumage. Locally common from the eastern U.S. to South America; especially common near the coast. Found in a variety of wetland habitats, especially shallow marshy pools.
Habitat
Marshes, swamps, rice fields, ponds, shores. In North America most numerous on fresh waters inland, around river swamps and marshy lakes. Also feeds in wet meadows and even dry fields. Less commonly feeds in salt water, although it may favour such habitat in the Caribbean. Nests in trees or in dense low thickets near water.
Despite its different last name, the Little Blue Heron is probably a close relative of the Snowy Egret. It looks much like a Snowy when it is young, but molts to a dark slate-blue plumage as an adult. Generally wary and hard to approach. Nests in colonies, sometimes of this species alone; in large mixed heronries, Little Blues tend to nest along the edges. Some of its largest colonies are in the lower Mississippi Valley, where it often nests in association with Cattle Egrets.
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Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga)
Costa Rica Marsh 2022
Scientific classification
Domain:Eukaryota
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Suliformes
Family:Anhingidae
Genus:Anhinga
Species:A. anhinga
Binomial name
Anhinga anhinga
The Anhinga is a large bird, measuring approximately 89 cm (35 in) in length (with a range of 75–95 cm (30–37 in)), with a 1.14 m (3.7 ft) wingspan.
The A. a. anhinga subspecies is larger than A. a. leucogaster and has broader buffy tail tips.
They weigh on average around 1.22 kg (2.7 lb), with a range of 1.04–1.35 kg (2.3–3.0 lb).
The bill is relatively long (about twice the length of the head), sharply pointed, and yellow, and the webbed feet are yellow as well
Long-necked bird found in wooded swamps, marshes, and ponds. Males are black with white on wing; females similar but with brownish neck and head. Dives underwater and spears fish with dagger-like bill. Often swims with only head and neck out of water.
Sometimes called snakebird, darter, American darter, or water turkey,
Like cormorants, perches out in the open to spread wings and dry feathers. Similar shape to cormorants but even longer-tailed with a more sharply pointed bill. Occasionally soars.
Anhinga species live in warm, shallow waters and swamplands worldwide.
The American anhinga has been subdivided into two subspecies, A. a. anhinga and A. a. leucogaster, based on their respective location. A. a. anhinga can be found mainly east of the Andes in South America, east to the islands of Trinidad and Tobago. A. a. leucogaster can be found in the southern United States, Mexico, Cuba, and the Caribbean island of Grenada.
A fossil species, Anhinga walterbolesi, has been described from the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene of Australia.
Only birds living in the extreme north or south of their respective ranges will migrate based on temperature and available sunlight; Anhinga will travel closer towards the equator during winter, but this range is "determined by the amount of sunshine to warm the chilled birds".
Although not part of their traditional range, American anhinga have been found as far north as the states of Pennsylvania,Wisconsin,and New York.
Kettles of Anhinga often migrate with other species of birds, and have been described as resembling "black paper gliders"
