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Black-crowned night herons, or closely related species of night-herons, are found around the world. The birds in many of these photos below are returning to a day roost in a cattail marsh in Palo Alto, California. Night herons are mainly nocturnal and return to their day roosts before dawn, which makes photographing them a challenge. All these images were shot with autofocusing -- there was no way my eyes could focus accurately in pre-dawn light -- and high ISO. A powerful electronic flash provided most of the illumination, and consequently all the pictures show bright reflection from the birds' large eyes. Other images, made in better light, were taken at the Salton Sea in extreme southern California, and at Bolsa Chica wetlands in coastal Orange County, California. All these birds, except the one at the bottom of the page, are of adults.
Pictures of sitting black-crowned night herons can be found on this page.
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