Black heron? (1 Viewer)

[Momominim]

Im not a bird enthusiast but whilst walking my dog today I saw something the got me wondering.
I live in a town called Swanley on the edge of kent and London. The park where I take my dog for a walk has a boating lake. Over the last few months a grey heron has made the lake its home. It usually stands on the boating lake by itself but today, whilst walking the dog, I saw similar looking bird but instead it was completely black in colour and stood with its wings stretched out, overlooking the water at the end of the pier. I thought it was pretty unusual behaviour and so I watched for a while and it just stood there with its wings stretched out.
The grey heron stood about 5-6 meters away and didnt take much notice of it.
After looking around on the internet, it seems this behaviour is seen in black herons and thought I would ask for the opinion of people who might know. Are these birds rare in England? Ive never seen one quite like it before.

 

[nartreb]

Standing with wings spread is a typical behavior of cormorants or shags. That'd be my first guess.

There is such a thing as a black heron - it's an African species, but who knows what you'll find in a park near London. It has a nifty habit of forming a cape or umbrella shape with its wings to shade the water it's wading in. But you said "stretched out" and "overlooking the water at the end of the pier" , so I don't think you're describing the same behavior.

The last possibility would be a melanistic grey heron - a rare mutant that produces much more black pigment than normal. Such a bird would be completely identical to the nearby grey heron in size and shape. Herons sometimes sun themselves, similar to what cormorants do much more frequently, but melanism in herons is rare. However, such birds do exist: https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=26152

 

[Momominim]

Thanks for the quick reply. I believe what you described fits the bill. It wasnt so much an umbrella so it probably was a melanistic grey heron

 

[Valéry Schollaert]

Black Heron is tiny compare to our herons in Europe, but why not a Great Comorant ? Common in London, commonly seen with Grey Heron, size comparable and spending much time wings open.

 

[Momominim]

I had a look at pictures of a Great Comorant. Definately not this. It was almost identical to the grey heron but pure black.

 

[foresttwitcher]

Of course you will be the only one who knows what you saw but a melanistic Grey Heron would be rare and Cormorant common so on the balance of probability the latter is more likely. The wing-drying behavior you describe is also spot on for a Cormorant.

 

[Larry Sweetland]

I'd put my house on it being a cormorant

 

[stevethehydra]

Another for (Great) Cormorant. Standing with wings stretched out at the water's edge (particularly perched on something a bit above the water, like a pier) is typical of cormorants and no other birds of similar size. Herons never do it.

Interestingly, a non-birder ex-partner once asked me "is there such a thing as a black heron?". After a bit of questioning, it turned out she too had been seeing Cormorants.

 

[Momominim]

Ill see if I can get a picture tommorow