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Ardea herodias
Distinctive flying with wings spread and then bent downward at the "elbow" almost 90 degrees to the upper wing and body. Originally IDd as a Pelecanus occidentalis carolinensis. Upon further help by Auntnance and reading, it looks like a Great Blue Heron.
Beaches and waters of the Gulf of Mexico. This bird was spotted while on a fishing boat leaving the East Pass of the Destin Harbor.
This species is listed as "Least Concern" on the IUCN 3.1 Endangered Species list. There are concerns that the Gulf Oil Spill might effect this population's reproduction rates. This species was the species that led to the banning of DDT and other pesticides in Florida and nation-wide. When the oil spill off the Deep Water Horizon, or as it is known by the locals, "The BP Oil Spill" sent oil eastward with the tides, along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, the Destin/Fort Walton East Pass put up booms and had lots of boats out as "Vessels of Opportunity" looking for oil and oil damaged wildlife and plants and beaches.
Spotted on Jul 15, 2011
Submitted on Jul 17, 2011
10 Comments
Nance... you are right... Heron it is.
Herons are classified in Pelican family. So they look similarly during flights.
Aunt Nance, We were discussing on another post how to ID the herons from the Pelicans. I'm still new to the seabird identification. I grew up in the area, but never paid attention to the birds.
Heather, I think you may have mislabled this bird. It appears to be a blue heron instead (folded neck and trailing legs in flight).
Who cares of others..?
After making money....
This attitude must be changed..!!
It is really bad to hear all this. Even big companies are not inclined towards protecting nature. That is really bad. Thanks for sharing all this Heather.
Well the good news for the Destin, Florida area is that the oil never really hit the beaches like it did it New Orleans, Louisiana and the Gulf Coast further west of Destin, Florida. A beach called Pensacola Beach, Florida and Navarre Beach, Florida and Mobile, Alabama got more impact. More impact the further west you go. If you zoom out on the map above you can see the areas I mention.
If you look at the Destin Beach pictures, the water is still Emerald color, which is why its called the Emerald Coast and the birds and fish were out when I was out there. I hope to go out Sunday or Monday if I can, for some more shore, Beach, Marsh, and Bay side pictures. I think Destin, Florida and the nearby waterways escaped the worst environmental impact of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, but the economic impact is still being felt by the fishermen especially. Most other stuff seems to have rebounded, like tourists and beach visitors. There was a heavy media campaign to visit Florida with "beach web cams" and stuff like that, for the northerners who heard only horrible stories on the nightly news. It seems where it was bad, it was very bad, but Destin eastward it seems OK, fine. I hope my pictures show that, even though there is still concern for longer-term effects.
With the chemical disbursement agents they dropped into the oil, and the oil that escaped the containment barriers and other efforts...most of it seemed to settle in the marshes a little to the west of Destin, Florida. But, the worrisome part is what happened to the disbursed oil? If it settled directly where it was when the chemical agent was introduced, then the bottom feeders will be in it and feed on it, and it will be traveling up and out the food web/food chain and the bigger predators could be collecting this in their systems about now.
Heather still worst conditions continues in Mexican Gulf...?
Oh Dear! that is sad.
For the most part, Destin area lucked out. The oil came ashore in little droplets very little bits, or at least much less than expected and feared. The local fishermen and lifeguard told me that the oil "went deep" and "mostly got caught in currents away from the [Destin] beach" "except for a few drops here and there on swimsuits".
Nice pics and even better details provided by you. Thank you for sharing the concerns of Oil spill and use of pesticides. The use of pesticides have become a growing concern, usually affecting the birds more than us.