{"id":2624,"date":"2011-07-02T07:29:55","date_gmt":"2011-07-02T13:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=2624"},"modified":"2024-08-05T03:27:38","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T08:27:38","slug":"juvenile-yellow-crowned-night-heron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/07\/02\/juvenile-yellow-crowned-night-heron\/","title":{"rendered":"Juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JuvenileJuvenile Yellow-Crowned Night Heron stalking prey – Nikon D200, f7.1, 1\/750, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 230mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I enjoy watching birds and observing their behaviors every bit as much as I do photographing them. Watching and taking images of this juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron was no exception. I had been photographing it on the west side of a tidal lagoon at Fort De Soto’s north beach then I moved over to the east side of the lagoon to photograph some White Ibis in that area though I kept watching this immature heron as it made its way towards me. I was sitting still in the grasses partially hidden by the height of the spartina and the heron didn’t seem at all alarmed or bothered by my presence and it soon came very close to me.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Yellow-crowned Night Heron with a crab – Nikon D200, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 260mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The young Yellow-crowned Night Heron moved very slowly and it seemed to do that deliberately. It would take a step, stop, and then move its head side to side while looking for crabs in the spartina and grasses of the shoreline.<\/p>\n

I watched as the juvie Yellow-crowned Night Heron caught and ate several crabs that it found in the vegetation until it moved away from me. The memory of this moment in time with this young heron still makes me smile.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/span> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Yellow-crowned Night Heron photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This young Yellow-crowned Night Heron moved very slowly and it seemed to do that deliberately. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,25,704,2000,93],"tags":[5229,5132,674,670,627,626,3970,4067,4071,4094,3956,3957,4000,3980,4139,4118,4140,313,95,4193],"class_list":["post-2624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-yellow-crowned-night-heron","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-crab","tag-crabs","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-hunting","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-marsh","tag-night-heron","tag-night-herons","tag-nyctanassa-violacea","tag-pinellas-county","tag-spartina","tag-stalking","tag-tidal-lagoon","tag-wading-birds","tag-yellow-crowned-night-heron","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-crab-florida-mia-mcpherson-4572.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-Gk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":35633,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/02\/16\/a-juvenile-black-crowned-night-heron-stalking-prey\/","url_meta":{"origin":2624,"position":0},"title":"Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron Stalking Prey","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Last August I was able to spend time observing and photographing this juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron stalking prey at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron stalking prey at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5335.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5335.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5335.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5335.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":396,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/08\/22\/hungry-heron\/","url_meta":{"origin":2624,"position":1},"title":"Hungry Yellow-crowned Night Heron","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It didn't take long for the Yellow-crowned Night Heron to grab the crab and send the sand flying.","rel":"","context":"In "Atlantic Ghost Crabs"","block_context":{"text":"Atlantic Ghost Crabs","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/ghost-crabs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron tearing up a Ghost Crab, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-devouring-crab-florida-1420.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-devouring-crab-florida-1420.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-devouring-crab-florida-1420.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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