Hearing a report that there was a juvenile Yellow-crowned Night-Heron at Alcoa Marsh in Lancaster, I headed off to check it out early this morning. Arriving at the marsh, the first birds I heard were Yellow Warblers and a Willow Flycatcher. Scanning the edges of the marsh there are several dead trees, perfect for perching waders. The only bird making use of this perch was an adult Black-crowned Night-Heron (click on image to zoom in).
There were also four Green Herons perched on logs that were scattered thoughout the marsh. Most of the birds were spending their time preening as well as spreading their wings to warm up in the morning sun.
Finally, scanning back into the western corner of the marsh I saw a young night-heron sunning in a tree. Setting up my scope I saw that it was the immature Yellow-crowned Night-Heron. I managed to snap this photo of the distant night-heron with my camera’s zoom maxed out and my scope’s eyepiece set at 60x. Luckily there was enough light to take the picture at a fast enough speed.
