Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron In Flight
I don’t have a great track record with Black-crowned Night Herons in flight but yesterday morning I had some success with juveniles of the species at Bear River MBR.
Tag: nycticorax nycticorax
Preening And The Uropygial (preen) Gland
Though I regularly watch birds as they preen it’s not often that I’m able to actually see the preen (uropygial) gland.
Black-crowned Night Heron Tongue
The Black-crowned Night Heron is the most widespread heron in the world. They are opportunistic feeders that feed on a wide variety of prey and I’ve seen them swallow some amazingly large prey items. I suspect that their rather interesting-looking tongue plays a significant role in their success.
Black-crowned Night Heron On Ice
Black-crowned Night Herons are the most widespread heron in the world, breeding on all continents except Antarctica and Australia. They’re relatively common in northern Utah, although it’s somewhat unusual for me to see them around here during winter. 1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light So two days ago I was surprised to find this juvenile still lurking around the wetlands of the Great Salt Lake. We’re in the middle of an inversion which means it’s very cold (I was shooting in temps of -10 degrees F yesterday morning) so most still water is frozen solid. This bird was standing on ice with a thin layer of snow on top. 1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light Juveniles look very different from adults. Instead of the basic black, white and gray colors of the adults these young birds are brown-streaked ventrally… 1/1250, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light and mostly solid brown dorsally. This orange-chrome eye color will turn bright red in the adult. 1/1000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light I didn’t realize it at first but this bird was in hunting mode. There’s a patch of open water just out of frame in front of the heron and the bird is watching it for fish activity. One time it made an incredibly fast move for a fish from this position but it missed. The heron didn’t stand any closer to the open water because the ice is…
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Preening And The Uropygial (preen) Gland
Though I regularly watch birds as they preen it’s not often that I’m able to actually see the preen (uropygial) gland.
Black-crowned Night Heron Tongue
The Black-crowned Night Heron is the most widespread heron in the world. They are opportunistic feeders that feed on a wide variety of prey and I’ve seen them swallow some amazingly large prey items. I suspect that their rather interesting-looking tongue plays a significant role in their success.
Black-crowned Night Heron On Ice
Black-crowned Night Herons are the most widespread heron in the world, breeding on all continents except Antarctica and Australia. They’re relatively common in northern Utah, although it’s somewhat unusual for me to see them around here during winter. 1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light So two days ago I was surprised to find this juvenile still lurking around the wetlands of the Great Salt Lake. We’re in the middle of an inversion which means it’s very cold (I was shooting in temps of -10 degrees F yesterday morning) so most still water is frozen solid. This bird was standing on ice with a thin layer of snow on top. 1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light Juveniles look very different from adults. Instead of the basic black, white and gray colors of the adults these young birds are brown-streaked ventrally… 1/1250, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light and mostly solid brown dorsally. This orange-chrome eye color will turn bright red in the adult. 1/1000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light I didn’t realize it at first but this bird was in hunting mode. There’s a patch of open water just out of frame in front of the heron and the bird is watching it for fish activity. One time it made an incredibly fast move for a fish from this position but it missed. The heron didn’t stand any closer to the open water because the ice is…