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Started By
Message
Heron labeld as Goth Heron - dead
Posted on 1/9/26 at 4:57 pm
Posted on 1/9/26 at 4:57 pm
Slidell - Photographers named it the Goth Heron. Cool name and awesome look. Unfortunately it turned up dead in a ditch and was covered with creosote.
Question now is how and where
Goth Heron
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Question now is how and where
Goth Heron
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2
Posted on 1/9/26 at 7:21 pm to Crawdaddy
It was all over the Louisiana bird pages. Can't imagine how it got that way.
Posted on 1/9/26 at 8:02 pm to Crawdaddy
Jojo has some great photos of it on his site and IG … Hopefully he sees this and chimes in on the situation
Posted on 1/9/26 at 8:14 pm to AlxTgr
Posted on 1/10/26 at 8:24 am to sig2608
Below are a few of the photos I took of the bird.
There was a lot of back and forth about whether the bird was covered in oil or melanistic. Several photos were sent by other photographers to different wildlife experts, and none of them could seem to agree (one would say oil stained the other would say melanotic).
The birds behavior indicated that it was not in any type of distress. I, along with a few other wildlife photographers, watched it for several hours and it was hunting, eating, and acting pretty normal, and the feathers were not clumped together or crusty like you'd expect from an oil soaked bird. Because of this we all agreed it was likely melanistic, and did not try to intervene (had we known it was oil that would have been different).
A lot of people have said that a red flag should have been that the bird was not afraid of people, however if the bird had been habituated it would likely would have tolerated people being close by. We see this all the time at marinas and boat launches.
Other people are not claiming the bird was covered in creosote, however that us usually a thick tar like oil, and whatever the bird was covered was something thin that was able to get between every feather and stain it.
I watched the bird for a long time the day before it was found dead, and there were no indications that it was sick. My guess is (along with that of one of the people that found it dead) is that it got hit by a car since it liked to cross the road to hunt in different ditches.
I'm not sure where the bird got contaminated, but I think it at least needs to be investigated by St. Tammany Parish before more animals start showing up like this. I saw someone mentioned else mentioned Smitty's, but that's a pretty good distance from Slidell, so not sure if that would be the source (could be, just not sure.)
There is also a lot of argument as to whether this was a great great or great blue heron. I'm leaning great blue because of the chest plumage, you don't see it like that on the egrets (their breeding plumage is different). It was smaller than most great blues, but could have just been a young one. Either way wish the story would have turned out differently.
There was a lot of back and forth about whether the bird was covered in oil or melanistic. Several photos were sent by other photographers to different wildlife experts, and none of them could seem to agree (one would say oil stained the other would say melanotic).
The birds behavior indicated that it was not in any type of distress. I, along with a few other wildlife photographers, watched it for several hours and it was hunting, eating, and acting pretty normal, and the feathers were not clumped together or crusty like you'd expect from an oil soaked bird. Because of this we all agreed it was likely melanistic, and did not try to intervene (had we known it was oil that would have been different).
A lot of people have said that a red flag should have been that the bird was not afraid of people, however if the bird had been habituated it would likely would have tolerated people being close by. We see this all the time at marinas and boat launches.
Other people are not claiming the bird was covered in creosote, however that us usually a thick tar like oil, and whatever the bird was covered was something thin that was able to get between every feather and stain it.
I watched the bird for a long time the day before it was found dead, and there were no indications that it was sick. My guess is (along with that of one of the people that found it dead) is that it got hit by a car since it liked to cross the road to hunt in different ditches.
I'm not sure where the bird got contaminated, but I think it at least needs to be investigated by St. Tammany Parish before more animals start showing up like this. I saw someone mentioned else mentioned Smitty's, but that's a pretty good distance from Slidell, so not sure if that would be the source (could be, just not sure.)
There is also a lot of argument as to whether this was a great great or great blue heron. I'm leaning great blue because of the chest plumage, you don't see it like that on the egrets (their breeding plumage is different). It was smaller than most great blues, but could have just been a young one. Either way wish the story would have turned out differently.
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