Heron with Injury?

[gaknott]

I noticed something odd looking when reviewing some blue heron shots, so zoomed in and cropped to try and see better. Is this a broken wing, is he impaled with something, holding something under his wing? Or is it normal and just caught it at that spot during the photo? I have never seen one that looked like this. Any ideas??

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[Warren D]

I'll go with normal, if you look behind the feathers on the other side you see a similar structure.

Might be missing some feathers, hard to say from the angle you had.

 

[gaknott]

I'll go with normal, if you look behind the feathers on the other side you see a similar structure.

Might be missing some feathers, hard to say from the angle you had.

I have seen/photographed many Heron and have not seen that part exposed. Yes, maybe some feathers missing but what ever it is seems to be separated. And the part at the top that appears to be some sort of joint.

 

[gordon_g]

It’s an Alien! Run for your lives!

 

[Rassie]

That strange-looking piece has to be part of the wing. If the bird appears normal otherwise I'd guess it's part of the elbow joint that's devoid of feathers. Otherwise a badly healed injury? Do you know if the bird could actually fly?

 

[gaknott]

That strange-looking piece has to be part of the wing. If the bird appears normal otherwise I'd guess it's part of the elbow joint that's devoid of feathers. Otherwise a badly healed injury? Do you know if the bird could actually fly?

Rassie, it is a mystery to me. Otherwise he seems to be healthy and I would think he would be suffering health-wise if he could not fly due to a wing problem. I will keep an eye out for him next week when I visit again. But, there are several heron there and I would have to see the same anomaly before I was sure it was the same one. Animals do have the ability to adapt much better than us!