Black-crowned Night-Heron

We're back in snowy NH now, but we'vebeen to FL and GA. I'll show some of my favorite photos from our travels this week.

This is a Black-crowned Night-Heron I photographed in Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island, FL. Not an easy bird to find, since it's a "night heron" and emerges at night to hunt for fish. Found it roosting in the mangroves in a fairly open spot. Usually they're tucked way back in and sleeping.

It's also not always easy to photograph them because they're such contrasty birds, being black and white, so the whites often burn out in the digital image. The light was just right, not too sunny. Love the little white feather coming off the back of the head, called an occipital plume. They can have 1-8 plumes, the plumes are longer during breeding. Males and females look alike, females tend to be slightly smaller.

Very cool bird.