On top of everything else going on in my life, I spent two days this week obsessing about the weird heron I saw last weekend. 
It started when I reviewed my pictures with Sony's Picture Motion Browser software, which displays a sort of timeline of your shots. I saw that my shot of the "hanging heron" safely flying away was actually taken seconds before a picture of the heron hanging (confused yet?) I thought I had made a mistake when I said that Great Blue Herons can strike weird poses that look physically impossible, but it turns out that they can. You won't find it in a guidebook or mentioned by a reliable birding site online, but after an image search with terms like 'strange heron pose' and 'weird wings heron,' I managed to find 13 pictures of the behavior. 
Gray Heron drying wings, originally uploaded by prabos.
Look familiar? You can see more like this by clicking the links below. Odd Heron Pose Basking Heron Poster Don Erickson.com Blue Heron 1 Fishermans Coast Heron It was an honest mistake. The island is really far away (800 - 900 feet, maybe more) - It started when I reviewed my pictures with Sony's Picture Motion Browser software, which displays a sort of timeline of your shots. I saw that my shot of the "hanging heron" safely flying away was actually taken seconds before a picture of the heron hanging (confused yet?) I thought I had made a mistake when I said that Great Blue Herons can strike weird poses that look physically impossible, but it turns out that they can. You won't find it in a guidebook or mentioned by a reliable birding site online, but after an image search with terms like 'strange heron pose' and 'weird wings heron,' I managed to find 13 pictures of the behavior. Gray Heron drying wings, originally uploaded by prabos.
- and there are a LOT of herons over there. You can see about 40 nests on Google Maps, and there are nests in the lower branches, too. 
They picked a good spot to nest.
ReplyDeletei just saw this very same pose this morning in my back yard! AWESOME! Wonder why they do this- some sites say 'drying wings' some sites say "pride", some sites say 'territory'.
ReplyDeleteYou know what, Lisa - I don't think anybody knows why they do it! If it were drying wings, you would think it would be a well known pose, like with Cormorants. But its not well known. One guy said he'd been a wildlife photographer for 20 years, and saw this happen only once.
ReplyDeleteI'm still looking for answers, too. If you find out, please let me know!
I am an avid great blue heron watcher and photographer. I witnesses the wing drying pose for the first time today. It look like a difficult yoga pose. I have been hanging out with these birds for a couple of years and never saw this before today. I have noticed that they are preening much more right now too. Also, it has been very wet here for the past 3 weeks and it was sunny and warm today.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update, suziecreamcheese. I have scoured the web and the library, and haven't found anything explaining how their muscular system forms such an unlikely pose. I think we've discovered a new phenomenon that has yet to be documented by traditional avian experts. Very cool, right?
ReplyDeleteHi, I love the fact that you have included one of our images on this post (Basking heron) - my husband and myself are wildlife photographers and adore herons but unfortunately the link has changed. Would you mind amending the basking heron link to http://www.bestphotoposters.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php/basking-heron-poster-prints-p-226.
ReplyDeleteThanks Diana Davey
Hi Diana. I updated the link. Thanks for letting me know.
ReplyDeleteI saw the same behavior on Monday 7/5/10 at Great Meadows NWR - Concord Unit. It was perched on a Wood Duck box. A friend saw the same behavior today with the bird on the ground. It has been hot.
ReplyDeleteCheck this out! A whole GALLERY of GBH's in the SAME EXACT POSE!
ReplyDeleteGBH Yoga Gallery