The birds in the photos below, which I took on Oléron shores, are called échassiers in French, it seems. Their long legs are like stilts, which are échasses in French. I would call these birds "shorebirds"; others might say "wading birds" or even "waders" — though in my dialect "waders" are waterproof "hip boots" that are worn by fishermen or firemen.
I'm really bad at identifying European birds, plants, and mammals because I grew up in North America, where we don't have the same species. It appears that there is a family of wading birds called "stilts" because their legs are so long and spindly. One species lives in western North America. Another lives in South America. I don't think any live on the east coast of North America. I'm not at all sure about the bird species you see in my photos.
Apart from the second last photo, which is a gull of some sort, the others are birds you could see around home as well. The white ones are Little Egrets and the grey ones are Grey Herons.
ReplyDeleteWhat does "around home" mean? I recognized the gull. We see gray herons here all the time. In the U.S., we have blue herons.
DeleteIf I'm not mistaken, Egrets and Herons can be seen on the Eastf Coast of the US.
ReplyDeleteYes, egrets and blue herons inhabit the U.S. East Coast.
DeleteI love looking at these birds and thinking how much Cheryl must have enjoyed seeing them in the wild.
ReplyDeleteNice pictures, Ken. I know very little about birds of any kind but I enjoy seeing them. We have herons, egrets, wood storks, sandhill cranes, etc. where I live in Florida.
ReplyDeleteThanks to you and Chris for yesterday’s tip on finding English names for things using French Wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteThese look a lot like the herons and egrets we see in Maine (although not in the winter), but there are some differences.
ReplyDeleteWe see gray herons in the little ponds that are scattered around the vineyard, but not egrets.
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