Black-Crowned Night Heron Lunch

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Black-crowned Night Heron, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday

Two weeks ago, while the paparazzi were clustered around a nest with new chicks, I saw a Black-Crowned Night Heron fly to the marshes at low tide. These birds, as their name implies, normally feed in the evening, but this one was going to have lunch by pulling out worms from the sand.

Black-Crowned Night Heron landing on marshes.

Black-Crowned Night Heron catching sand worm.

Black-Crowned Night Heron eating sand worm.

The heron ate at least half a dozen worms.

Black-Crowned Night Heron posing one last time before flying back to the rookery.

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Little Blue Heron

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little blue heron, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday

At the rookery next to the Welcome Center at Ocean City, NJ, I saw a Little Blue Heron and its juvenile child. Their colors confused me at first. Juveniles are white, while adults are deep blue and purple. The rookery also had white egrets, both Great Egret and Snowy Egret, which added to my confusion.

Juvenile Little Blue Heron.

The one way I could be sure was when parent and juvenile were together, as when the parent brought food home for the hungry juvenile.

Little Blue Heron, parent and child.

No more food. The parent tried to get away.

Juvenile lodged a protest:”You come back here. I’m not done eating yet!”

Parent flying away to get more food.

“I hope that won’t take too long. I’m starving!”

Rookery at Ocean City 4

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bird paparazzi, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, yellow-crowned night heron

In the first post for this series 11 days ago, I posted pictures of a Yellow-crowned Night Heron tending to her five eggs. Yesterday, I went back there and saw that the eggs have become young chicks covered with down, barely able to stand up. There were about twenty photographers gathered on the sidewalk above the nest, all vying to take pictures of the herons.

As I got there, the male heron had just landed with a twig in his beak. The female will take it and add it to the nest.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron arriving with twig.

Female taking twig from male.

Female adding twig to nest.

There were five eggs, but I only see three chicks. I wonder what happened.

Female and chicks.

Mother heron proceeded to feed the chicks.

Female feeding chicks.

Afterwards, she spread out her wings to shield her children from the hot sun. She kept her eyes closed, perhaps taking a well-deserved nap.

Female shielding chicks from sun.

Following are pictures of the Ocean City Welcome Center and the bird paparazzi.

Ocean City Welcome Center.

Bird paparazzi.

Rookery at Ocean City 3

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Black-crowned Night Heron, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, red-winged blackbird, rookery

Black-crowned Night Herons are a major presence at  the rookery next to the Welcome Center at Ocean City, NJ. These birds hunt for their food starting at dusk, and their eyes are one of their most noticeable features.

Black-crowned Night Heron.

Immature Black-crowned Night Heron.

Despite their size these Herons are easily intimidated by the Red-winged Blackbird, a fierce defender of its territory. I saw a Blackbird chase a Heron into a tree.

Red-winged Blackbird and Black-crowned Night Heron.

Pursued by the Blackbird, the Heron tried to hide among the branches. Unfortunately, too many leaves shielded the small Blackbird from the camera.

Black-crowned Night Heron very wary of Red-winged Blackbird.

Black-crowned Night Heron.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Look Up

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brown pelicans, daily post weekly photo challenge, garrapata state park, look up, ocean city airport, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday

The Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge Look Up is at this link:

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/look-up/

For photographers, it is always a good idea to look up when they are walking around taking pictures. In early May, that’s what I did while hiking in Garrapata State Park in Northern California, and saw a large band of Brown Pelicans flying high in the sky toward me. I just had enough time to capture 17 of them in the following photo.

Brown Pelicans over Garrapata State Park.

Later in the month, I was concentrating on getting good shots of Night Herons in the rookery near Ocean City Welcome Center. Then I heard the sound of a motor, looked up and took the following shot.

Plane landing in Ocean City, NJ.

Osprey (Not Peregrine Falcon)

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Ocean City Welcome Center, osprey, photography, postaday

The pictures below are those of an Osprey, not a Peregrine Falcon as I originally had thought. Thanks to Donna, I now realize my mistake and made the necessary corrections.

Osprey soaring over Ocean City Welcome Center.

Osprey flying over Ocean City Welcome Center.

Osprey on the hunt.

Osprey diving toward prey.

Rookery Scenes

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Black-crowned Night Heron, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, rookery, yellow-crowned night heron

Yesterday the rookery next to Ocean City Welcome Center was very busy, with photographers and birds. The former brought their long lenses firmly anchored to bulky tripods, or to study arms. The latter, especially the younger ones, were up to their natural feistiness.

Black-crowned Night Heron.

I tried to shoot a few bird-in-flight pictures, but ended up discarding most of them.  Below is one of the better images.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron in flight.

Two juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron did not let up on their play acting, and I saw that other young ones in nearby nests were behaving likewise. Perhaps it’s a part of their growing up, preparing themselves for an independent life in a few more weeks,

Young Yellow-crowned Night Herons. I don’t know why the one on the right was showing his throat.

The one on the left promptly responded.

Young Yellow-crowned Night Heron on left: “Keep it closed, capice?”

Heron Sibling Rivalry

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Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, sibling rivalry, yellow-crowned night heron

Yesterday at the rookery next to Ocean City Welcome Center I took many pictures of heron nests and their occupants, as well as of other birds flying and nesting in the area. However, I think you may enjoy looking at the ones below, which offer a unique perspective on sibling rivalry.

A pair of young Yellow-crowned Night Heron, they have grown up quite a bit since last week, were confronting each other, and the facial expressions of one of them are priceless.

Young Yellow-crowned Night Heron to opponent: “You want to fight? Come on!”

Young Yellow-crowned Night Heron to opponent: “Oh no! He is really going to get me!”

Young Yellow-crowned Night Heron: “Please, I didn’t mean it!”

Young Yellow-crowned Night Heron: “Mommy! Help! He is going to kill me!”

Young Yellow-crowned Night Heron: “Aaaargh!”

The above reminds me of another photo I took last year, at around this same time.

Young Red Foxes, May 2015.

Night Herons Nest Activities

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Black-crowned Night Heron, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, yellow-crowned night heron

The Night Heron hatchlings from last week are now wide awake, clamoring for attention and food. You can see them in the following photos and the two short videos at the end of this post.

Newborn Yellow-crowned Night Herons.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron mother: “Open wide!”

One Yellow-crowned Night Heron nest still had a few more eggs to hatch.

I finally located a Black-crowned Night Heron nest.

Black-crowned Night Heron and hatchlings. The video is right below.

The following video shows activities at a Yellow-crowned Night Heron nest.

 

Night Herons

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Black-crowned Night Heron, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, yellow-crowned night heron

Yesterday was the first time I used my camera to shoot a short video of a Yellow-crowned Night Heron tending to its babies in their nest. It is a little noisy, but here it is anyway so that you can see the interaction between mother and babies.

Going through my files from yesterday, I found one of an immature heron, probably a Black-crowned Night Heron.

Immature Black-crowned Night Heron.

And here’s one of an adult heron carrying a twig.

Black-crowned Night Heron.

Hatchlings

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Black-crowned Night Heron, glossy ibis, great egret, hatchling, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, yellow-crowned night heron

As predicted, the eggs in the Night Heron nests have begun to hatch. I went to the Ocean City Welcome Center today to look at them, and saw little balls of fur moving while the parents were busy preening or redecorating their nests.

Yellow-crowned Night Herons with new hatchlings in nest.

Yellow-crowned Night Herons planning redecoration.

At another nest, the male heron brought a twig back.

Female heron: “What took you so long?” Note that one egg still had not hatched.

Male heron passing twig to female.

While he flew away to look for other twigs, she tidied up their nest.

At yet another nest, no eggs had hatched.

All the eggs were still whole.

There were many other birds around the herons. I only managed to get shots of Ibises and Great Egret.

Great Egret throwing up food.

Several Glossy Ibises were flying around. Maybe they also had nests in the rookery.

Black-crowned Night Heron. They also had nests but those were well hidden in the rookery trees.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron on the hunt.

Eggs

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Black-crowned Night Heron, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, yellow-crowned night heron

Yesterday I went back to Ocean City Welcome Center to check on the Night Herons, both Yellow-Crowned and Black-Crowned kinds. They now have eggs, and this was the first time I was able to photograph bird eggs in their nests.

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron eggs. The parents left them untended for about a minute.

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron re-arranging nest.

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron breaking another branch to add to nest.

Black-Crowned Night Heron with eggs.

Black-Crowned Night Heron with eggs.

In case your are wondering, here’s a picture of Ocean City Welcome Center.

Ocean City Welcome Center.

And here’s a shot of the place from where I’ve been photographing the Night Herons.

Observation railing at Ocean City Welcome Center. Two photographers are in the picture, one at the railing, and another walking in the shadows on a path below.

Finally, a photo of a Night Heron incubating.

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron incubating.

Incubation lasts up to 25 days, so next week, there may be new hatchlings.

Breaking Branch

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Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, yellow-crowned night heron

Last Sunday, as I watched the Night Herons at the Ocean City Welcome Center, I kept hearing loud noises as if someone was breaking branches. It turned out that it was the herons themselves. As you can see from the photo below, these herons have very sturdy, thick bills.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

In fact, they are known as crab eaters, eating whole crabs by crushing them with their bills before swallowing them. With larger crabs, they grab them with their bill and then shake them violently to break them up into smaller pieces. Their bills are like those steel crab crackers that they have at restaurants that serve crabs.

A the start of breeding season, the herons have to build nests where the females will lay their eggs. They go around their neighborhood and use their bills to break dead branches and bring the pieces back to their nests.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron: “We need more branches.”

Heron seized branch with bill.

Heron jumping up and down to break branch.

Got one!

Back to nest with broken branch.

Depositing branch at nest.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

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Black-crowned Night Heron, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, rookery, yellow-crowned night heron

The Welcome Center in Ocean City, NJ is right next to a rookery with many kinds of birds, including Yellow-crowned Night Herons. These herons are active during daylight hours, in contrast to the Black-crowned Night Heron that are nocturnal. The herons arrived a little over two weeks ago, but within a week they had been busy courting, choosing their partners, and building nests. I took the following photos last Sunday.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron standing next to a nest, thinking about what else could be added to it.

As a female Yellow-crowned Night Heron works on her nest, a male approaches.

“Move over, I want to help!”

He tried to impress her with a display of feathers.

At another nest, a male Yellow-crowned Night Heron brought a branch to add to the nest.

Meanwhile the Black-crowned Night Herons were starting to wake up.

Black-crowned Night Heron. “Those yellow-crowned cousins sure make a lot of noise!”

Black-crowned Night Heron:”Yeah, what’s all the fuss about?”

Song Sparrow

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Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, song sparrow

This morning, I saw a Song Sparrow perched on the top branch of a bush near the Ocean City Welcome Center.

“You want me to sing?”

“Oh what a beautiful morning,
Oh what a beautiful day,
I’ve got a wonderful feeling,
Everything’s going my way.”

“So how do you like it?”

Common Grackles

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grackle, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday

Grackles are almost cartoonish birds because of their dark colors and yellow, seemingly malevolent eyes. They are everywhere, especially at places where they can forage for food. They eat everything from corn to worms. Sometimes they fly together in giant flocks which can inflict severe damage on corn fields. Three weeks ago, I saw a band of them at the Ocean City Welcome Center in New Jersey and shot the following photos.

Common Grackle on top of a street lamp.

Same Grackle flying away.

Another flying shot of same Grackle.

Young Common Grackle on tree branches.

Black-crowned Night Heron

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Black-crowned Night Heron, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday

Black-crowned Night Herons winter in Mexico and further South, coming North to breed when Spring comes. I was told by a fellow photographer that they migrate to Ocean City, NJ, about 20 miles South of Edwin B Forsythe  National Wildlife Refuge where I usually go.

This morning I went to the Ocean City Welcome Center which opened 3 years ago and is becoming famous for its population of Black-crowned Night Heron. It had snowed the day before, but they were there, about two dozens of them, most perched on tree branches. They were half asleep since they are normally only active at night. I had never seen them until today, so these are my first shots of this kind of heron.

Black-crowned Night Heron at Ocean City Welcome Center. Note snow on the ground.

Black-crowned Night Heron at Ocean City Welcome Center.

Black-crowned Night Heron at ocean City Welcome Center.

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron at Ocean City Welcome Center.