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Message: <blockquote data-quote="bugmat" data-source="post: 3601538" data-attributes="member: 137018">I'll not argue too much (though that is what forums are for) - the ornithologists here in trinidad will decide (I've submitted the bird as a report to be decided by a panel) and I'll update the thread when I get a response. I cannot see how you can definitively tell me it isn't a gray heron when the facts match, and it is a bird that has been recorded here annually (though in very small numbers)... your opinion regarding size goes against records here and elsewhere including the site I linked and the field guides of both here adn Venezuela... and size was but one factor I used in judgment rahter than the only one.I can understand someone saying it could either be gray or cocoi, and then going for cocoi simply due to likelihood (though that is also a bit of a fallacy as we'd never have rare birds if everything was common) ...but to say it's definitely not a gray based on nothing more than that likelihood when it could fit for either bird - and both have been recorded here in multiple years in recent times -well in my opinion that cannot logically be a definitive conclusion.Your photo showing a great egret lookin taller than a great blue heron is not a counterargument to my point about cocois being generally larger than gray herons, or gray herons being similar in size to great egrets,  for several reasons (1) the egret's neck is extended while the GBH is not which of course means it will stand taller and (2)parallax error - the closer bird looks bigger than it is in relatio to the further because of the angle of view of the photographer (3) variation in individuals which also depends on age and maturityI saw both species (this heron and two different great egrets) stand beside each other in the same area for several minutes - i think I can judge if a bird is roughly the same height or significantly large/smaller even within an acceptable range of variation.</blockquote>

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