Adult and Juvenile Great Blue Herons Sunning : 無料・フリー素材/写真
Adult and Juvenile Great Blue Herons Sunning / nature80020
| ライセンス | クリエイティブ・コモンズ 表示 2.1 |
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| 説明 | An adult (left) and juvenile (right) great blue heron were sunning late one warm afternoon. As shown in this photo, one conspicuous difference between adult and juvenile great blue herons is the long stringy feathers on the upper chest of the adult and the corresponding short fluffy feathers on the juvenile. (The stringy feathers produce a down that the herons use to clean themselves.) Of course, the generally awkward movements are often the most obvious indication of a juvenile heron. Also, the crest feathers on the top of the head of an adult go down the back of the neck a few inches, but on a juvenile are short and tend to stick up. Great blue herons stand like this facing the sun on cool days to warm up, but they also do this on warm to hot days as in this photo. In these cases they have their mouths open and flutter their throats to cool down. There are various speculations about why the herons do this, but none appear to me to be convincing. One of the more plausible theories is that this makes the feathers in the front of their body hot, which eliminates parasites like mites. These herons were standing on the dam at Metzger Farm Open Space in Westminster and Broomfield, Colorado. Photograph by Jim Kennedy To see the photos organized to tell the stories of what has been happening for the hawks, herons, turtles, snakes, and other wildlife and plants at or near Metzger Farm Open Space, go to www.flickr.com/photos/nature80020/sets/ |
| 撮影日 | 2019-07-10 08:25:42 |
| 撮影者 | nature80020 |
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