Black-crowned Night Heron

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Black-crowned Night Heron
Black-crowned Night Herons are just plain fun to see.  I rarely see them hunting for food, since they generally do that at night when I'm home with my family.  But they can be seen during the day in several places I go to around Central Florida.  The best places I know of are Viera Wetlands and Orlando Wetlands Park.  In fact, all these photos were taken at Orlando Wetlands Park.  They can be distinguished pretty easily from other herons.  Unlike Yellow-crowned Night Herons, these birds have black crowns and a black stripe down the middle of their backs visible during flight.  Juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons look very different from adults; they look more like juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Herons.  However, the bills of Black-crowned Night Herons are not all dark; the lower half of their bills are yellowish.

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Black-crowned Night Heron
Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug
Black-crowned Night Heron
Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug
Black-crowned Night Heron

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