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Ardea herodias cognata
This is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America as well as the Caribbean and the Galápagos Islands.
seen fishing in Puerto Ayora Harbor
2 Comments
CDF - Thank you for the compliments on my shots. I've updated the spotting with the information you have provided. Many thanks! This particular heron was very easy to approach and get pictures of.
Splendid shots, Neil! FYI: The Galapagos Great blue Heron has been described as a separate subspecies: Ardea herodias cognata (see http://www.darwinfoundation.org/datazone.... I dont know off hand what the distignuishing characteristics are, but one is clear: The Galapagos birds are so much easier to approach, i.e. are much "tamer", than any of the continental subspecies.