NATURE CLICKS #453 - BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON

What was supposed to be just a short trip to give our little dog Cooper his evening exercise turned out to become a nice bird watching and photo walk. We went to Bankston County Park, a nice wooded location along the Middle Fork Little Maquoketa River, less than twenty minutes away from home. I have reported about this little gem before last year here in my blog.

There is a small little pond and the first bird we saw was this Black-crowned Night-Heron. The only place I have seen this bird in Iowa before was twice in the Green Island Wetlands. The heron was perched on this big branch, hanging over the water. They are opportunistic foragers with a varied diet. My experience with the black-crowned has been that they are pretty relaxed and stay in place as long as you move slowly. We also flushed a much smaller Green Heron, who just moved to the other side of the pond. Green Herons seem to be a lot more nervous and I have missed many photo opportunities before because they are so skittish.

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S

NATURE CLICKS #403 - BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON

Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

Only once before I have seen a Black-crowned Night Heron in the Green Island Wetlands and that was already five years ago. As hunters they have great endurance and can stand still for a long time until a small animal passes by. I saw this heron this afternoon sitting on this branch at the edge of the water. Using my car as a blind the bird didn’t feel bothered by me much and even closed his eyes a few times. I came back 90 minutes later in hope for some softer light and the heron was still on the same branch. I would call this true patience…😉

NATURE CLICKS #347 - BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California --------------

One of the best bird encounters I had in the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve last Sunday was the presence of some Black-crowned Night-Herons. I have seen and photographed them only once in the Green Island Wetlands here in the Mississippi River Valley. Some other photographers told me that they had seen lately even the Golden-crowned Night-Heron, who is there only occasionally during migration. My luck didn’t stretch out that far but I was very happy seeing the black-crowned. It was already close to mid day when these shots were made and I came back later in hope for softer light, but the herons were gone.

Sometimes we have to compromise, especially if the time to work with a particular species is limited. The background was really critical. The location of these dead trees, where the herons had perched, was near the border of the preserve, just in front of a residential area. Houses are never a great background for wildlife photography but in my second picture I couldn’t hide the fact. Usually I try to zoom with my feet and move around for a better background but more dead trees and other obstructions really limited my chances. Well, I’m still happy…