For those folks that follow my blog, you will remember me posting images of a rather odd-coloured Green Heron that I photographed in Cuba, on the island of Cayo Santa Maria, in the Jardines del rey archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. The Jardines del rey is a UNSECO World Biosphere. As it turned out, through my hopes to identify this heron, I had photographed a melanistic or genetic variant of this species. Subsequently, I was invited by Dr. James Kushlan of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Heron Specialist Group to write a paper on my observations for their inaugural online issue “Journal of Heron Biology and Conservation.” It is now believed that this is the first record of such abbarent plumage in Green Herons. I would like to extend a big thank-you to Dr. Kushlan for this opportunity. It was a privilege to write the paper for an organization such as the IUCN. If you are interested in reading the article please click here.
Congrats on the find. I posted something on BPN to let folks know. Great article and very well written, of course a beautiful bird.
Denise, thanks for the kind words and for posting on BPN. I appreciate it very much!
Andrew: Your link does not work. This one does:
http://www.heronconservation.org/resources/1-McLachlan-melanism.pdf
Yikes! Thanks a bunch for the heads up David. It worked when I previewed it. Sorry folks.