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GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist and ornithologist who loves to write about "E3": evolution, ethology and ecology and the subtle relationships between these fields, especially in birds.
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Topic Categories: Birding • Education • Mystery Birds • Photography • Teaching • Travel
Posted on: October 30, 2009 9:59 AM, by "GrrlScientist"
tags: Bare-throated Tiger-heron, Tigrisoma mexicanum, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Bare-throated Tiger-heron, Tigrisoma mexicanum, photographed in Mexico. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Life Science
Education
Comments
There appears to be some confusion about the locale of this bird. You claim it's Mexican, but the photo was apparently taken in Namibia. Any chance of a clarification here?
If Mexican, looks like a Tiger-Heron of some sort.
Posted by: psweet | October 30, 2009 3:09 PM
Hmmm, the family is certainly Ardeidae, possibly subfamily Tigrisomatinae, in which there are species of Tiger Heron both in Central America (genus Tigrisoma, 3 species) and in Africa (I think only Tigriorinis leucolopha) but I am confused by psweet's Mexican reference...
certainly this looks very close to an immature Bare-throated Tiger Heron (Tigrisoma mexicanum), possibly a Fasciated Tiger Heron (Tigrisoma fasciatum), or a Rufescent Tiger Heron (Tigrisoma lineatum), all of which are found throughour Central America...
if this is an African species (photo is marked Namibia), then it could be a White-crested Tiger Heron (Tigriorinis leucolopha) which is found in bordering Angola, but not listed for Namibia (or bordering countries such as South Africa or Zambia) so I'm off to try to find some African bitterns instead!
Posted by: David | October 30, 2009 5:06 PM
(Hey Grrl, any chance you can post my comment which has been referred to you for some reason- too many href tags perhaps?)
Posted by: David | October 30, 2009 8:00 PM
sorry about the mix-up. this is a mexican bird.
Posted by: "GrrlScientist" | October 30, 2009 8:20 PM
Thanks Grrl
Therefore, taking a closer look at all three Central Amercan species, (discounting T. lineatum on plumage and T. fasciatum on range) I'm going for a juvenile Bare-throated Tiger Heron (Tigrisoma mexicanum)
Posted by: David | October 30, 2009 9:07 PM
Help. My comments seem to be blocked for some reason. Greenish-yellow unfeathered throat says Bare-throated Tiger-Heron as there is no heron of this description in Africa
Posted by: Adrian | October 31, 2009 8:08 AM
Thanks, guys, I didn't know that there even was a Tiger Heron that made it to Africa.
Posted by: psweet | October 31, 2009 8:16 AM
psweet, from the Univeristy of Michigan Museum of Zoology, the subfamily Tigrisomatinae contains four genera: our Central American Tigrisoma (3 spp. of tiger herons); and also from Central America, the monotypic genus of Agamia (Agamia agami, agami or chestnut-bellied heron); and two further monotypic genera, the Indonesian/PNG genus of Zonerodius (Zonerodius heliosylus, forest bittern), and the African Tigriornis (Tigriornis leucolopha, white-crested tiger heron).
However, there appears to be a lot of discussion about the correct taxonomy of the entire family, with DNA evidence now pointing to inclusion in the family Pelicaniformes and not Ardeidae, which would now reclassify the family into three subfamilies: Tigrisomatinae (we keep Tigrisoma, Tigriornis, and Zonerodius, but lose Agamia while gaining the boat-billed Cochlearius); Botaurinae which contains all the "bitterns"; and Ardeinae which contains all the rest- night herons, pond herons, typical herons, egrets, and the agami.
S.J.Hackett, et al (2008) "A Phylogenomic Study of Birds Reveals Their Evolutionary History", Science, Vol. 320. no. 5884, pp. 1763 - 1768
Posted by: David | October 31, 2009 9:03 AM