They poke then shit when they fly off.

Math checks out!

Pretty sure it's an anglicisation of the word Shidepoke which was how natives referred to the bird.

I always thought that it was because they frequent the shitty smelling mudflats to poke around for food.

>anglicisation

You must crush at Scrabble. Thanks for the nugget.

Between what you said and what lorindel_wallis said, I think we've figured it out. To wit:

Definition of shitepoke

: any of various herons: such as. a : green heron. b : night heron.

Etymology

shite + poke; from its traditional habit of defecating when flushed

Thanks to you both!

“I’ve got a new art concept for pokemon #2,342… it kinda looks like a heron.”

“A heron? We already have 83 big bird pokemon, what’s this one do?”

“It pokes shit”

“Shidpoke it is, publish to the ‘dex”

Shitpoke is a cormorant not a blue heron.

No

https://i.imgur.com/vdI4DAJ.png

Are you originally from ME or VT?

My grandfather called Comorants shit pokes. Didnt know we were using that term for herons

I’ve always heard Comorants referred to as shit pokes as well

Striated Herons aren’t migratory, and they aren’t native to the US or Maine.

That's not the point. I can find a few references to people calling cormorants shitpokes, but those references are largely just correcting people that are doing that.

Downeasters have referred to them for generations as Shitpokes. Both Herons and Cormorants are long necked birds. What someone calls these birds depends mostly on where they live.

Originally from Vermont. Went to college in Maine and stayed because...well...it's awesome. Now live in NH Seacoast, also awesome.

That's interesting, personally I've never heard them called that. Herons specifically have always been shitpokes. They're also markedly different looking birds, blue herons are huge. But I've never lived downeast so there you have it. I'll take your word for it and move on with my life.

Interesting. I'm a Vermonter living in Maine and I miss VT every day! Hearing about people from VT who grew to like it here brings me hope 😅

Where in VT and where in ME? For me:

West Castleton in VT

Orono, Bangor and Portland in ME

Never heard this term used for cormorants (or herons), like some people are saying. Definitely have heard people calling cormorants “shags” though.

Grew up in Charlotte, but lived in Jericho for the past 10 years. I just moved to Gorham, ME (Portland suburb).

I've always heard herons, egrets, and all birds of the same general aesthetic referred to as "shit pokes".

I always assumed it was because they walk around in the mud/water and poke shit.

We definitely call them that here in western Maine too.

I’ve heard cormorants called Sea Ducks before

From Brooksville, can confirm, it's a Shitpoke

We've called herons shitpokes my entire life.

I've only heard people referred to as shitpokes. I guess my elders were likening ditsy people to birds.

Weird, cause I doubt they’re related to sea ducks.

The proper term for that bird is "pterodactyl".

My father called cormorants “shags”.

The term made it into this Mainer cartoon around the 4 minute mark

https://youtu.be/bZGbOlHicZk

That's funny as hell, man. Thanks!

Hell yeah! They got a few funny ones from like 10 years ago but haven’t watched any recent ones. They got kinda big and actually did an intro for Storm Center at one point

If you don't know why they are referred to as shit pokes you've never seen one evacuate it's bowels while in flight. Holy shit! Literally!