Other Water Birds
Aside Waterfowl, there are many other Aquatic based birds. Gulls and Terns to Herons and Rails. This gallery can really show how birds have adapted to varying habitats of water.
Seabirds
Among the beach, there are many species of seabirds. Some species are among my favorite of birds. While these birds may seem plain as any othe ron a beach day, these birds carry some hidden fun facts and behaviors if you care to learn and pay some attention to these feathery friends.
The first pic of the Ring Billed Gull is rather interesting. While they are seen quite often, they were originally on a huge decline in the 19th century due to hunting. However, they made a huge rebound and are now the most common species of gull today. The second pic of the Herring gull can look a little bit like a Ring Billed, but is a but larger in size and doesn't have the black ring on it's beak.
Brown Pelicans flying, or pelicans at all, are a first for me to see. After some research I learned alot about them, and I think I;m scared of them. When they yawn, their neck can go into the outer part of the gullet, exposing the inner part of their mouth as it opens wide. They still need that gullet to feed on many fish however.
The gulls after the pelicans are laughing gulls. While normally laughing gulls have black heads and red bills, these were taken in summer, the non breeding season, where they take on this monoschrome color scheme. Laughing gulls get their name for the signature laughing calls they make.
Royal Terns are interesting. They're ne fo the larger Terns, with the Caspian Tern ebing larger. It gets it's name due to being described by a French Polymath. It's also got a weird taxonomy history, orignally placed in the genus Sterna, but is now genus Thalasseus in modern day.
Herons and Egret
It's hard to miss a heron when you see it. When you do see one, you can't help but watch it. It's not often you find such large wading birds. If you're in a city place, definetly lookfor anywhere with a marsh or a lake.
The Great Egret is a bird that one quite can't miss. Standing at 3.3 feet tall, it's one of the larger herons, only behind the great blue or grey herons in height. Egrets like the great actually crease their necks inward when flying unlike spoonbills, storks, cranes and even other herons that extend their necks outwards.
Little Blue Herons, up to their name, are little compared to other similar herons, and are a slight blue-grey hue in pulmage. Unlike several other herons, Little Blue Herons are distributedcloser to the equator, such as upper South America, Mexico and the southern states of the USA.
The Great Blue Heron is one of the most recognized heron species, given it's large and great size, as well as the blue colors it gains it's blue-ish flight feathers. The Great Blue Heron is an adaptable hunter, able to change it's hunting method based on what it's hunting. It's diet can range from fish, to lizards, amphibians and even rodents such as rats and mice.
There are up to 7 species of Night Heron, but only two species of Night Heron are found in North America: the Yellow crown and the Black Crown. Both species of Night Heron are medium sized herons compared to others such as the Great Blue. Both Species get their names from the "crowns" on their heads, each of their representive color in their names.
What's interesting about the Black Crowned Night Heron in particular is that it's one of the few species of heron that has been observed to exhbit bait fishing. Using food or other floating tools like bread to lure fish in before attacking them when it's prey is in range. It's one of the rare sights of a bird that exhibits tool use, something usually seen in parrots and corvids.
Other Aquatic Birds
There are many other types of aquatic birds, racing from shorebirds, to rails, to Ibises. Right now, I have these two both from Florida.
The first bird is a Common Gallinule. The Common Gallinule, true to it's name, is one of the most copmmon species of rail found in America. With it's wide feet like many other rails, it can hop about on lily pads with ease to feed on small vegetation and aquatic prey. In spite of it's plentiful and widespread distribution, we should still be aware of habitat loss that may cause a decline to the species, and to save many other bird species (I love all kinds of birds and hope to protect them in some way/ spread the awareness!)
Theother bird in this gallery here is the White Ibis. It is a nearly entirely white bird, only other colors being red beack and legs, as well as slightly black tips on it's wings. Similar to other ibis species, their mainly eat crayfish and crustaceans but can also eat fish and aquatic insects. This bird should be more cared about, as human interactions have affected it's diet, nesting and breeding behaviors, which is leading to lower reproduction rates.