"THE NIGHT IS STILL YOUNG"

Black-Crowned Night Heron (Immature) - 9 Photos

Apologies - I just couldn't help myself with the title of this one.

The following photos are of an immature Black-Crowned Night Heron. I find the colour transition of immature birds to mature totally fascinating. That includes the gradual change of the young Bald Eagle into its mature white head & tail feathers.

Just chilling out by a pond, waiting for some bird to fly in or a mammal to swim in when I looked up and saw a bird standing behind a Mallard Duck but definitely much taller. "Where did you come from??" It just seemed to magically appear. One moment it wasn't there & the next, there it was.

And then keeping it in sight, I realized it would crouch and walk down a small gully in the bulrushes out of sight and then repeat the process sometime later & up it would suddenly pop again. 

It would catch a few fish just while standing with the ducks and then would retreat into the shade of the marsh grasses for some time, probably to take advantage of the shade and potentially more fishing opportunities.

And although the heron appeared to be a little nervous manoeuvring around the Mallard Ducks, it seemed to take some comfort from their company, birds of a feather and all that, I suppose.

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