#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

[thewaterbirds]

Juvenile black-crowned night heron

2024, watercolor and gouache

"You wouldn't get it mom."

[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

[moon-snailsss]

Guess who went birding today :3

Juvenile yellow crowned Night Heron

Yellow-rumped warbler Ibis!

Fungus Tricolored Heron

Black vultures Mangroves

Please do not mind my awful binocular pics my camera did NOT wanna work today😋

Ebird list 💪

[siravalon]

Herons!

Green Heron

Black-Crowned Night Heron (&Juveniles)

Great Egret

[sebring5]

IMG_0002 by Henry Via Flickr: Black crown night heron

[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.

[brooklynbridgebirds]

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