Backyard and Beyond

Two juvenile Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) and a Great Egret (Ardea alba) were hanging out at the same “water” in Green-Wood recently. Ardea is Latin for heron, herodias is Greek for heron. Alba is white. The egret was scarfing down small fry with abandon. Never saw either of the herons make a strike. (“Heron” and “egret” are basically interchangeable, but we’ll go with the common name distinction.)And the herons were much jumpier, stirred up by people and vehicles. Last year a juvenile here seemed quite unconcerned by people. Different experiences, different personalities.