Black-crowned Night-Heron being harassed

Last night, I added five extra photos, trying to catch up a little, otherwise I will never get back to the last two days of my Trinidad images. I am posting three more photos this morning.

Not the best quality photo, but to be expected when the EXIF data says Focal Length (35mm format) - 1200 mm. A bit of cropping, too, to bring this Black-crowned Night-Heron a tiny bit closer. There were several small birds that would hang out on the distant railing, some of them Brown-headed Cowbirds, and they would harass this poor Heron. Last year, I saw one of these Herons standing in exactly the same place.

"Black-crowned Night-Herons are stocky birds compared to many of their long-limbed heron relatives. They’re most active at night or at dusk, when you may see their ghostly forms flapping out from daytime roosts to forage in wetlands. In the light of day adults are striking in gray-and-black plumage and long white head plumes. These social birds breed in colonies of stick nests usually built over water. They live in fresh, salt, and brackish wetlands and are the most widespread heron in the world.

Black-crowned Night-Herons are opportunists feeders that eat many kinds of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine animals. Their diet includes leeches, earthworms, insects, crayfish, clams, mussels, fish, amphibians, lizards, snakes, turtles, rodents, birds, and eggs. They also eat carrion, plant materials, and garbage from landfills. Rather than stabbing their prey, they grasp it in their bills. Black-crowned Night-Herons normally feed between evening and early morning, avoiding competition with other heron species that use the same habitat during the day. They may feed during the day in the breeding season, when they need extra energy for nesting." From AllAboutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-crowned_Night-Heron/lif...