If I were to choose one photo that got me enthralled (or entangled) with birds, this would be it. New camera. First trip to the lagoon at HF Lake, and the first image I see is a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron and a Great Blue Heron. I was such a novice, I had to ask Gilles and Peeter what they were, especially the night heron for I had never seen any juvenile before. The following week, I asked about a Green Heron. What's so difficult about this, I wondered, but the wonder was obvious. So, Gilles, thanks ... I think. (Peeter hasn't been heard of in six years or so.)
So, two species, and great species at that on the road to ... 146 species in eight years (I only count what I have pictures of). By the way, the lagoon and all its snags have been cleaned out by the city, so the fight continues!
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The smaller of the egrets, but probably the most elegant, it was the plumage from this bird in women's hats in the 1880s-1910 that almost led to their extinction.
LIVE AND LET LIVE!
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Went to Monterey and Carmel today. Fought traffic for four hours, and came back with one "okay" shot. A new wildfire sprang up as we were coming home. And with all of that, my Anna's Hummingbirds, Chickadees, and American Goldfinches have started to show up. Even if I don't get that many shots, I'm just happy to have some wildlife in the back yard again. This guy came back about two weeks ago, and I guess he's become a resident, living off the catfish that have multiplied like crazy in the two ponds. This guy never ceases to please me: he walks around the lagoon, and I can do fairly well with lighting and his regal stance.
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What I think was "our" resident Green Heron, captured at Heather Farm Reserve in Walnut Creek, California some 10 years ago. Part of a pair who mated that year, and who built a huge nest by the shore, and raised six chicks to adulthood. What captured my attention to these squat little birds was that I saw them as early as 2008 using tools while fishing: a Greenie would stand with a leaf or stick and place it in the water. When a fish took notice, it was toast.
The green heron (Butorides virescens) is a small heron of North and Central America. Butorides is from Middle English butor "bittern" and Ancient Greek -oides, "resembling", and virescens is Latin for "greenish".
And all this time, I thought I'd never seen a Bittern! I have confused the two at a distance. Btw, they're found throughout Mexico and much of coastal U.S., and are residents primarily of Florida and California, Mexico and Cuba.
Tags: Green Heron Butorides virescens Heather Farm Reserve Walnut Creek California 2010 Canon SX 20 Copyright Ethan A. Winning
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A few years ago, I used to archive images that had twigs or branches obscuring any part of the bird, but around 2017, I took another look and thought, that's part of the environment and there was no reason to dump an image such as this Black-crowned Night Heron.
In 2010, the BCNHs were found sometimes as many as 8 or 9 at HF Reserve in Walnut Creek. The drought changed that, and I actually found one just three months ago. Still, they're not as available as they once were. Glad I have 20+ images of this oddly beautiful bird.
The black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), or black-capped night heron, commonly shortened to just night heron in Eurasia, is a medium-sized heron found throughout a large part of the world, except in the coldest regions and Australasia (where it is replaced by the closely related rufous night heron, with which it has hybridized in the area of contact).
The breeding habitat is fresh and salt-water wetlands throughout much of the world. The subspecies N. n. hoactli breeds in North and South America from Canada as far south as northern Argentina and Chile. California is part of the breeding range, but at no other time.
Tags: Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax or N. n. hoactli the Subspecies found here Canon SX20 Copyright Ethan A. Winning
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