Friday, October 16, 2009

Juvenile bare throated tiger heron

I love the delicate colors and patterns visible in this photo of a bare throated tiger heron. This is a juvenile. He can be compared with the adult bare throated tiger heron, which I have shown in the past and am showing again below so that you can compare an adult and a juvenile side-by-side.

The juvenile has more pronounced and thick black stripes against a buff/brown background, whereas the adult has much thinner and more subtle stripes. The adult also has a graying color on his back and yellow on the front.

Bare throated tiger herons are among the larger members of the heron/egret family. They are most common in Guanacaste, which is our area of northwest Costa Rica.

7 comments:

Sharon said...

These are beautiful birds. I love the pattern in the feathers on both the young and the mature birds. It just so happens that I have one of the more common great blue herons flying across a lake today on my site.

brattcat said...

Thank you for showing us these two stages in this heron's maturation. Are humans also so utterly transformed from childhood to adulthood?

Frank said...

Great shots, both of them. I love how you've captured the subtleties of the fathers and coloring.

Unknown said...

I'm amazed! Fantastic wildlife shots on your last posts! I have a very similar bat shot on Tortuguero, but as to the other photos, wish I could have got such close-ups!...

Judy said...

These are both great shots of the beautiful bird!

glenda said...

Very beautiful coloring. The herons have so many different varieties. I've seen blue and grey herons here in AZ.

Jilly said...

Ah-ha, so I come from Sharon's blog and find another heron! What a beauty. I've never heard of this particular heron.

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