I took a photo of an interesting heron in the spring
at Sabkhat Al Fasl, which unfortunately flew off before I could take anymore
and then forgot all about it until I looked through my photos again a week or
so ago. The bird looks very dark on the back and almost maroon in colour,
especially when compared to the Squacco heron in front, features for Indian Pond
Heron. The trouble with the bird is it has rather thin and broken streaking on
the head and neck rather than broad and dark and the breast is white whereas on
Indian Pond Heron it should be more streaked. There is also often a very
obvious dark line across the lores on Indian Pond Heron, which this bird hints
at, but is probably not quite prominent enough? Also the bill shape does not look quite right and should be more blunt tipped. Although the bird superficially
looks like an Indian Pond Heron, there are too many points that do not fit
perfectly making me think it is probably not one. Anyone with any thoughts on
this bird, please feel free to comment.
