black-crowned night heron ~ 10/12/11 ~ Morro Strand Beach

juvenile black-crowned night heron
Nycticorax nycticorax

I see these young ones from time to time at the Monterey Coast Guard Pier, but I rarely have my camera on me in the early morning to capture them. On trips like this one to Morro Bay (about 150 miles southeast of Monterey Bay), I generally do carry our little point-and-shoot. Local Monterey photographers Greg Magee and Peter Monteforte (who over the past several years, I've run into rather regularly) have much better pictures of black-crowned night herons... well, much better pictures, period. They were the ones who first told me what this funny looking bird actually was with its bright yellow legs and dumpy body. It was at a time when I finally figured out how to recognize the adults, but the young ones confused me when I initially saw them.

ps 11/14/11 - If I didn't know any better, I'd almost say this was a winter plumage Chinese pond heron (Ardeola bacchus). Just joking.