The Supreme Tradition of Spelling Bees

#24 bjd, a Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nytcticorax)? The bird in my earlier picture is a European Coot (Fulica atra). Water hen is an unofficial name for coots, moorhens, and gallinules.

#25, this egret has been around for almost a month but has been misidentified during much of that time. It appears to have a certain area where it hangs out to feed, and can often be found "right there". Mystery egret.

Herons are elegant too, but birds called egrets are usually white and to me look really elegant.

In your second link, is the first picture the same bird as the rest of them? (The same individual, I mean.) The head looks different, but maybe it's just the angle.

Herons are elegant too, but birds called egrets are usually white and to me look really elegant.

I agree. It was you who said that Herons are Elegance (in #22).

Filip Dewinter, leader of the Flemish nationalist party, just settled for me that I'll be rooting for Turkey. He said a victory of Germany (against Turkey) would be a victory for Europe. Turkey doesn't only want to join the EU, they want to colonize Europe, and what is Turkey doing in the Eurocup anyway?
How does one say "Go Turkey!" in Turkish?

Peromy, that might be it. My husband thinks the beak may be a bit thinner, but it's hard to get close enough. There is only that one bird around, and it's not always hanging around to be photographed.

You're right, I did say that in #22. But then I forgot. Sigh. Old age.

Mr. Dewinter can get speared by a giant, raging egret.

The (large) white bird is the same in every photo. It looks different because of the differing angles and photographers.

How do you say "Go Turkey!"? Well, perhaps you could ask on SiT...or on World of Sport, perhaps?

bjd, I hope you can get a closer look, or a photograph.

bjd, does it perhaps look like this? Or this? This? Or like the one on the right here?

(All birds with long beaks etc. whose names I only know in Dutch, but if one of them happens to be your bird, peromy might know what it is in English.)

@ 1130

#1 is a (Eurasian) Curlew, Numenius arquata

#2 is a (Common) Redshank, Tringa totanus

#3 is a Grey Heron on the left, Ardea cinerea, and an (Eurasian) Oystercatcher on the right, Haemotopus ostralegus.

I think bjd lives well away from the coast, so the oystercatcher is rather unlikely.

And, geek that I am, I only looked up one of those scientific names.

The Collins Bird Guide by Mullarney et al is the best field guide for birds in the world. Non-Amazon link. I can hardly wait for the new edition. I love simply looking at the illustrations, even of species that do not occur in North America. I am sure it is available in Dutch, and in French, editions.

shilgia, I think the bird is most likely to be the black-crowned night heron, although it hangs around during the day. I went running this morning, but didn't even see any ducks.
We have only one little bird book that some friends gave us years ago, but it's not in there.

bjd, night herons can hang around during the day. They may be trying to sleep, or they may be foraging for their young during nesting season.

What do you call "nesting season"? Is it when they lay their eggs, mate? Here there have been ducklings and baby water hens (cooties?) around for a while already.

What do you call "nesting season"? Is it when they lay their eggs, mate?

Basically, yes.

Nesting season in our latitudes runs from April into August. Different species start and end their nesting at different times. In April, some French (and Maryland) nesting species such as warblers are still in the tropics, while hawks and owls can be incubating eggs or even feeding young.

Edited by: Peromyscus101