#juvenile black crowned night heron

[sleepy-sluggo]

This juvenile black-crowned night heron was the first of this species I’ve seen lol

[spinus-pinus]

Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax

7/8/2023 San Diego Zoo Safari Park, California

[sebring5]

IMG_0009 by Henry Via Flickr: Juvenile black crown night heron

[graveyardrabbit]

[cazort]

In case people are curious, this is a young one. A lot of birds, this species included, start off their lives with camouflaged plumage. This is because the mortality rate of young birds due to predation is extremely high, mainly because the birds are inexperienced.

If they survive their first season, their chance of being killed by a predator declines greatly, mainly because they're birds, and they can fly! So once they know what they're doing, they're pretty safe.

But that first year is rough. So evolution has given them an extra boost of this camouflaged plumage. It's standing out now, but against a backdrop of winter vegetation it would be nearly invisible in many environments.

After that first year they develop bold black-and-white plumage that makes them easier to spot. You can find great photos contrasting adult with juvenile plumage of this species here.

Black-crowned Night-Heron at night! Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 5

[mutant-distraction]

Ron Kemp

Juvenile black crowned night Heron striking a cute pose

Edmonton, Alberta Canada

Sep 12

[antiqueanimals]

Black-crowned night-heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) (juvenile)

Part of a collection of watercolors by "M. Rabié" for St. Domingue Oiseaux. Dated 1766.

Internet Archive

[meklarian]

Black-crowned Night Heron, juvenile, ruffled San Joaquin Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary Irvine, California, USA July, 2019

(more herons here)

[admiralgiggles]

Naptime!

Everything is identifying this one as a black-crowned night heron. It has juvenile plumage, which makes it harder for me to tell because they look very similar in this stage. This one seems kind of on the bigger side, though. In short, it’s definitely a heron; I’m just not sure which.

[fatbirdpics]

Juvenile black-crowned night heron, Ushuaia

[siravalon]

Herons!

Green Heron

Black-Crowned Night Heron (&Juveniles)

Great Egret

[anonsally]

Photos from birding at a marsh/shoreline area yesterday

My shorebird identification is very rusty, so @lies, please correct me if I have something wrong here; I would also appreciate your help on one of the birds we couldn't figure out.

Top row: a whimbrel

Row 2: a marbled godwit, I think

Row 3: a bunch of shorebirds, including (I think) a Western gull, least sandpipers, willets, marbled godwits, long-billed curlews, black-bellied plovers (though maybe they aren't in frame, not sure), black turnstones, ...? The photos are backlit--it was a weirdly glare-y day--so it's hard to tell what everything was.

Rows 4-5: Some kind of large plover. @lies, please help! This seemed larger than I thought the black-bellied plovers were and with a more prominent white eyebrow. But maybe that's what it was? It was in the marshy area rather than on the shoreline side, if that matters.

Row 6: juvenile black-crowned night heron; snowy egret.

[mid-nighttiger]

it's baby season

[Image ID: Five pictures of various juvenile animals: mallard, California ground squirrel, black-crowned night heron, Botta's pocket gopher, and American coot /End ID]

[sebring5]

IMG_0002 by Henry Via Flickr: Black crown night heron

[glowworm6]

Juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron by glowworm6a Via Flickr: Walking by the rushes we saw what we thought was a Green Heron literally leap in front of us, got the camera trained and started shooting. We call this type of meeting a "drawer check". We also saw a Night-heron flying with this bird. A quick check of our handy bird manual and we decided it was a juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron.

[brooklynbridgebirds]

Juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 1 Long Pond