Black-crowned night heron
Images copyright by Mark A. Chappell
Black-crowned night herons, or closely related species of night-herons, are found around the world. The birds in the photos above are adults; the heron at upper right was looking for food in the 'Great Tide Pool' in Pacific Grove, California, and the other bird was waiting for scraps from a cheetah feeding at the San Diego Wild Animal Park in southern California. Other images of adults were made at the Bolsa Chica wetlands in coastal Orange County, California. Juveniles and in flight show a heavy brown striping and look quite different from the cleanly-marked adults. At the very bottom of the page is a dawn-light photograph of a hunting adult night heron taken in Palo Alto, California, showing bright reflection from the bird's large eyes.
Picture of night herons in flight at dawn are on this page.
