I’ve recently discovered birding. Not sure why I’m so very fascinated with these lovely creatures, but suffice to say it is possible I’m taking it much too seriously. I have books, binoculars and – at last count - five feeders outside our kitchen window. Now, mind you, the feeders are really only about 20 feet away so the binoculars are overkill to say the least. We live in an historic district right in the middle of the city (in NC), so not your usual birding paradise. That being said – looky at who showed up this past Sunday for a visit:
According to my new friends Phil and Ron from our local paper they are juvenile yellow-crowned night-herons. Seems there is a colony residing in the park just down our street. According to Ron, “They must have fledged very recently and their naivete explains why they showed up in such an unlikely place for night-herons – porch railings and car roofs, of all places!” They stayed around for about an hour and a half, then wandered playfully across the street – on foot.
The picture above is a decent shot of the female perched delicately on the back of one of our cars, with the male in the forefront seemingly very aware I was stalking him from the window.
He put on quite a show for us, preening and posing, and at one point noticing his reflection in the windshield.
preening and posing…great pics…pleasure to read you