A Yellow-crowned Night-heron cruising around the pond, for no particular reason that I could see.
He made a few loops then disappeared into the trees.
Yellow-crowned Night-heron Flying By
Category Archives: Wading Birds
Flight Control
This Great Egret was not just passing by using that elegant egret glide I’ve come to love; he was on a mission.
Note the extended short feathers at the wing bend and the angle of the outer part of the wing.
He made a sharp turn right above me, providing an interesting view of his wing structure.
He circled lower then dropped down into the edge of the pond, just out of my sight.
Great Egret Ripley Water
Wading along, this Great Egret passed through some different looks to the water. A little breeze was making it ripple and in the first image the light was reflecting off the water onto the bird.
As he moved further along, there was less reflection from the reeds on the opposite bank of the pond and the sky made the water seem bluer. Around water a lot can change in just a few feet.
Great Blue Heron in Flight
I’m revisiting some images I took last fall using Topaz Sharpen AI. I might have overdone it just a bit, especially around the Great Blue Heron’s head.
I like the second image a little better with the shadow of the right wing falling on the left wing.
Juvenile Snowy Egret
This juvenile Snowy Egret had ventured away from his nest, learning how to get his own meals.
He had the stretch moves down, showing off his feet which aren’t quite the bright yellow of an adult.
But he was not successful while I was watching him. He got startled and flew back towards his nest.
Juvenile Black-crowned Night-heron On Boardwalk
The two Black-crowned Night-heron nests I spotted at the beginning of May apparently failed as they disappeared shortly thereafter. There must have been at least one other nest in that little island as I almost literally bumped into this juvenile on Thursday standing on the nearby boardwalk.
He practiced rousing…
… and showed me his beautiful wings.
A little unsure of himself, he hopped along before taking off back to the island.
Further down the path I had a view of him perched on a dead branch hanging over the water.
Will These Sticks Make a Nest? Yes!
In mid February I posed a question “Will These Sticks Make a Nest?” with doubts about the whole thing staying put.
This is one of my images from that post showing the scrawny nest and poor housing support.
I’ve been back a couple times since then and seen the parents had built the nest up quite a bit and two chicks had hatched.
I finally got some decent images this week.
There was just the one chick. Most of the other GBH chicks in nearby nests have fledged. Sometimes the young will return to the nest even after they are feeding themselves, probably for familiarity.
If this one hasn’t flown he will soon as the parents stop bringing food at some point and he’ll have no choice.
Yellow-crowned Night-heron Hunting
A Yellow-crowned Night-heron was on the prowl at the edge of a pond.
He didn’t have to work too hard for it this time, waded into the water and bam!
I’m not sure what it is, a crab or crawfish maybe.
It was good!
Yellow-crowned Night-heron and Friends
Maybe not friends, but tree-mates. This dead tree stands on the banks of the Ashley River and is popular perch for a variety of birds.
I have been watching some Yellow-crowned Night-herons that are nesting at the edge of a nearby pond. This one stayed here, perhaps getting a respite from nest duty, for over an hour.
The Anhinga and Grackle came and went. The sky stayed grey.
Yellow-crowned Night-heron, Twig Gathering
Usually I say stick gathering with images of a heron working on nest material. This Yellow-crowned Night-heron was only interested in small twigs, and despite all his efforts I never saw him take anything to the nest.
Ah, maybe this is the one!
No, he dropped that one and poked around for another option.
You can hardly see the twig sticking out of his beak, and after a minute he dropped that one, too.
