{"id":48255,"date":"2017-08-25T05:02:19","date_gmt":"2017-08-25T11:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=48255"},"modified":"2025-09-22T06:45:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T11:45:52","slug":"juvenile-black-crowned-night-heron-encounter-at-bear-river-nwr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/08\/25\/juvenile-black-crowned-night-heron-encounter-at-bear-river-nwr\/","title":{"rendered":"Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron Encounter at Bear River NWR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JuvenileJuvenile Black-crowned Night Heron on the auto tour loop – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a nice morning at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> yesterday, the air was fairly clear, the temps started out in the upper 50’s and the nicest part was that there were birds to be found.<\/p>\n

The last few times I have been to the refuge it has been slow bird-wise but it seems to be picking up now, I even saw some large flocks of dowitchers on the wing but they were too far away to photograph.<\/p>\n

It was a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron encounter on the auto tour route at the refuge and the resulting photos that made me smile the most when I viewed the images on my monitor at home.<\/p>\n

The images aren’t spectacular, the setting wasn’t that appealing and some of my favorite photos of the young heron don’t even show the eyes of the bird, just views from behind.<\/p>\n

\"LeapingLeaping juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron was standing on the gravel road and I was able to take a nice series of photos of it looking around the marshes when it took what appeared to be a short, flying leap towards the west.<\/p>\n

I kept firing away even though the young heron had its back to me and I am glad that I did because I don’t often get great views of these wading birds from the back.<\/p>\n

\"SassySassy looking juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I thought it was neat to see the juvenile plumage patterns from behind including the large white spots on the coverts when its wings were fully spread.<\/p>\n

\"Black-crownedBlack-crowned Night Heron juvenile on the road – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The juvenile heron lifted off not long after I took this last photo and flew away from the road. I didn’t have long with this bird but I enjoyed every second with it.<\/p>\n

Black-crowned Night Herons are year round residents here in northern Utah, they survive the extremely hot days of summer and the bitter cold of our harsh winters. They are sturdy herons, that is for sure.<\/p>\n

I also had some wonderful photo opportunities with Forster’s Terns and their young and some American White Pelicans, photos to come soon.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

It was a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron encounter on the auto tour route at the refuge and the resulting photos that made me smile the most when I viewed the images on my monitor at home<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":157464,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,27,321,1148,26],"tags":[5576,1533,6063,627,626,4067,4071,1027,3956,3957,4292,313,4193],"class_list":["post-48255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-black-crowned-night-herons","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-utah","tag-auto-tour-route","tag-black-crowned-night-heron","tag-encounter","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-leaping","tag-night-heron","tag-night-herons","tag-nycticorax-nycticorax","tag-wading-birds","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-6559.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cyj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":101968,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/29\/adult-black-crowned-night-heron-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":48255,"position":0},"title":"Adult Black-crowned Night Heron In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Almost a year ago I had this adult Black-crowned Night Heron in my viewfinder as it flew in front of the Promontory Mountains at Bear River MBR.","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":"Black-crowned Night Heron flying in front of the Promontory Mountains, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, 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Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I saw plenty of birds yesterday including juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons at Bear River MBR every where I looked.","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":"Pair of juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-crowned-night-heron-juveniles-mia-mcpherson-6078.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-crowned-night-heron-juveniles-mia-mcpherson-6078.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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I especially loved the clearer skies.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flying juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron with Promontory Mountains in the distance, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-promontory-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-promontory-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-promontory-mia-mcpherson-2755.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Agitated juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron, 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-close-up-mia-mcpherson-8274.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-close-up-mia-mcpherson-8274.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-crowned-night-heron-close-up-mia-mcpherson-8274.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-close-up-mia-mcpherson-8274.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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McPherson","date":"August 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In my post yesterday I mentioned that the Snowy Egrets that I photographed at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge were avoiding a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron, this is that heron.","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 landing in the Bear River, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-landing-mia-mcpherson-4535.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-landing-mia-mcpherson-4535.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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