クロサギ、ウミアイサほか / Pacific Reef Egret, Red-breasted Merganser, etc.

2023年1月15日 Birds

I came to Shimonoseki to look for Brown Booby and Oystercatcher, but the weather was unfavorable and I could not find any of the birds I was looking for. At any rate, I searched for something and found a Pacific Reef Egret. It seemed to be looking for food on the shore. I couldn’t get very close to it because it ran away from me.

磯で餌を探すクロサギ Pacific Reef Egret looking for food on the shore — Why do herons on land and rivers turn white while herons on the coast turn black? Very interesting to see if there is any evolutionary merit to this.

This heron is said to have a white type in the South East Islands area in Japan. It is pure white, just like the so-called egrets such as the Great Egret. I wondered if the black type had some advantage in gathering food along the coast, but I wondered if either type could be preferred.