Necks: the lying liars that just keep lying

Two recent photo posts on Mastodon reminded me how much necks lie. First, there’s this fine set of four photos of the same grey heron, by Zongora:

From a distance, you might assume that the long-necked bird shown in the top two pictures is a different species from the short-necked bird in the bottom two, especially the one at bottom left.

But the great thing in this case is that the lie doesn’t quite come off. If you look closely at the bottom left photo, you can see the the boundary between the dorsally directed white anterior part of the neck and the ventrally directed grey posterior part. The S-curve is there to be seen, it’s just not obvious unless you know what you’re looking for.

The second one is even more interesting. Swede’s Photographs posted this single photo:

Rather than describe it, I’ll just quote Swede’s Photographs (Coy Pearson):

Surveillance from the Fence

Yesterday morning—Saturday, 13 September 2025—I looked out into the backyard and noticed a dark shape perched on the back fence near the bird feeder. At first glance, I thought it was a squirrel, its tail hanging down in that familiar arc. But as my brain caught up with my eyes, I realized it was something else entirely.

I grabbed my camera and headed to the sunroom, hoping to get a few shots without disturbing the figure. Through the lens, the mystery resolved: a Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii), just hanging out, back to me, head turned nearly 180 degrees, scanning the ground below like a surgeon preparing for the first incision.

I cracked the door open and took a few more pictures. Then I stepped out onto the patio—and that was enough. The hawk lifted off and flew into the forest, landing in an oak tree just beyond the yard. It was still close enough for a few decent shots, but birds being birds, it tucked itself behind a veil of leaves, hidden but not gone.

That’s great photography work, and a record of some startling behaviour. Why did the bird not turn around? Presumably because it’s so comfortable with its neck twisted 180 degrees that it just couldn’t be bothered.

(By the way, there’s a ton more delicious bird photography at the Swede’s Photographs site: https://swede1952-photographs.pixels.com/collections/birds — I especially love “Flight of the Feathered Ba”.)

Instant update! Here is another great quartet of lying-neck heron photos from Zongora.