This is a superficially similar heron to the green heron from yesterday. It is an immature yellow-crowned night heron. They are roughly the same size. This one had come up with a "mudbug" or crayfish. And what a crayfish! I don't think I have ever seen one bigger except for one time when my wife caught one at Haynes point in Washington while we were fishing.
The heron eventually swallowed the crayfish whole. It must have an iron digestive system!
I think I posted this photo before. I don't particularly like the look of the bird, but I thought the way the camera rendered the background was pretty cool. There were a lot of puddles and water reflecting shards of light.
These photos were all taken at a national park in Washington dedicated to water lilies. They are at the peak of bloom right now and the huge lotus are particularly stunning. I was setting up to film a lily and didn't notice this heron on a branch right above my head preening.
The odd thing about yellow-crowned night herons is I have seen a lot of them, but they have always been sub-adults! I have never seen an adult YCNH. They call them night herons for a reason, and I guess they are nocturnal, but what I wonder is why the young ones are not. I have always seen them in the day time.
This is what the lotus look like. They are gorgeous, standing five or six feet high with blossoms as big as your head. The place is called Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens for anyone locally who is interested.
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