No Davita, not those kind of birds.

I was stretching my legs the other day round by Straits Green. (That's behind Tesco in Tg Tokong.) And this little feller below really did not want his photo taken. Every time I got slightly close, off he went. These were the best shots I could get by zooming in.

I presume it is some kind of heron. I've seen this sort before but a few years back. Anyone know what kind of heron it is? Just out of interest.

A striated heron I think.

JC3

Just googled...oh yes certainly looks like the one . Well done JC. Wikipedia says it is also known as the mangrove heron or little heron. Now I know.

Looks like a Norwegian Blue to me.

Surely a Norwegian Blue would turn red in the heat of Malaysia

I stand corrected. It is a Norwegian Blue. Not a heron. Bloody odd looking parrot.

I went down to Straits Green today just to double check. And you’re right ex-Reg. I saw it straightaway, same bird, same place. At first I thought it was just resting, tired after a prolonged squawk, pining for the fjords perhaps.

But no! On closer inspection I found it is no more, has ceased to be, bereft of life...but still upright. I can only imagine BB nailed it to the rock to take her photograph. Amazing what you can do with chopsticks. Cruel that.

And there was I thinking that parrots, being tropical birds, don't come from Scandinavia. Wrong again!

Dr David Waterhouse, a fossil expert and Python fan, has found that parrots not only lived in Scandinavia 55 million years ago, but probably evolved there before spreading into the southern hemisphere. His discovery was based on a preserved wing bone of a previously unknown species, given the scientific name Mopsitta Tanta - and now nicknamed the Norwegian Blue.

JC3

Wiki says the striated heron has some interesting behavioural traits but squawking "Anyone for crumpet, Vicar?" in a Norwegian fjord does not appear to be one of them. The mystery deepens...

You lot are bonkers.

Not all of us. See:

Parrot Fossil 55 Million Years Old Discovered In Scandinavia

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0516123153.htm

JC3

That’s because it’s a risky business.

A female striated heron from Malaysia tried it over a hundred years ago, in June 1898. She’s also no more, has ceased to be, bereft of life...but like the Norwegian blue also still upright. She’s a preserved specimen now in the Bird Collection at the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo.

What do the striated heron and the Norwegian blue have in common? They’re stuffed.

See: Butorides striata javanica - Striated Heron, Krabbehegre | Bird Collection | Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Norway

JC3

If you’re an angler you may already know the most interesting thing about striated herons is that sometimes they’ll use bait to catch a fish. Like for example my favourite, bread.

How? Well much like a fly-fisherman casts his fly just upstream of a rising trout, the heron will chuck the bread towards where it thinks the fish are.

It then keeps very still, waiting for a fish to take the bait, snatching the bread away from any fish that are too big for it to catch, and replacing it if it becomes too soggy.

Sometimes they’ll chuck the bread in a stream and follow it’s progress downstream waiting for a fish to rise.

Then Wham! Gotcha! Makan time!

Clever bird, the striated heron, much brighter than the Norwegian Blue!


Fast Forward to 1:00 Minute, watch the video, and read the comments. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntOmfO_sHjQ



JC3

So it's a wonder that we don't see more striated herons queuing up at the bakeries then.

I think that's because they prefer stale bread from the bin out the back. It doesn't go soggy so quickly see.

Smart these striated herons.
Except the one that went to Norway

JC3

Great to hear the Norwegian Blue is back on the burger menu at Birds Malaysia, Langkawi - thanks IVV. That's brilliant. Blink and you miss it. 24oz? Must be a new flock!

JC3