{"id":52108,"date":"2018-05-15T05:08:13","date_gmt":"2018-05-15T11:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=52108"},"modified":"2024-08-07T17:56:41","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T22:56:41","slug":"immature-black-crowned-night-heron-in-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/05\/15\/immature-black-crowned-night-heron-in-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Immature Black-crowned Night Heron In Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ImmatureImmature Black-crowned Night Heron in flight against a clear blue sky – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/6400, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Normally I see Black-crowned Night Herons here in northern Utah all year long but this past winter I don’t recall seeing any of these herons at all so I have been delighted by seeing them on the wing since the weather started to warm up. When I spotted this immature Black-crowned Night Heron on the wing at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> in April I hoped it would fly in closer than it did, still I liked the photos I took of it with a clear blue sky in the background.<\/p>\n

This is an immature bird that was hatched last year and hasn’t molted into its adult plumage.<\/p>\n

The wetlands surrounding the Great Salt Lake are great habitat for these medium sized, stocky herons. Black-crowned Night Herons are the most widespread heron in the world, they breed on every continent except for Australia and Antarctica. At one time they were hunted for their plumes and their populations declined but after laws were passed to protect them their populations rebounded.<\/p>\n

Now some populations in some areas are declining again primarily due to habitat loss and destruction. Climate change could also affect this species because of rising sea levels. Here in Utah if some of the proposed dams on the Bear River are constructed the result will be that less water reaches the marshes surrounding the Great Salt Lake and the lake itself, that loss of water could have serious impacts on these herons and all the other birds that live there and those that migrate through.<\/p>\n

People here should be more water wise than they are, we do live in a desert.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

When I spotted this immature Black-crowned Night Heron on the wing at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in April I hoped it would fly in closer than it did, still I liked the photos I took of it with a clear blue sky in the background. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":132061,"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":[1533,2069,4052,4122,4623,627,626,4067,4071,3956,3957,4292,4747,313],"class_list":["post-52108","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-black-crowned-night-heron","tag-blue-sky","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-habitat-loss","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-night-heron","tag-night-herons","tag-nycticorax-nycticorax","tag-population-decline","tag-wading-birds"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-5223.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dys","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":52108,"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, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/black-crowned-night-heron-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-2033.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/black-crowned-night-heron-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-2033.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/black-crowned-night-heron-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-2033.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/black-crowned-night-heron-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-2033.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27438,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/08\/15\/the-bear-river-and-a-juvenile-black-crowned-night-heron\/","url_meta":{"origin":52108,"position":1},"title":"Bear River and a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron","author":"Mia 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, 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Night Heron In Marsh Habitat","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Nearly hidden in the marsh vegetation was an immature Black-crowned Night Heron perched on some phrags at the edge of the water.","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 with its eyes on prey, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-6274.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-6274.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Crappy photo of a 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-juvenile-crap-mia-mcpherson-8829.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-crap-mia-mcpherson-8829.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-crap-mia-mcpherson-8829.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-crap-mia-mcpherson-8829.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5320,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/07\/10\/black-crowned-night-heron-fly-by\/","url_meta":{"origin":52108,"position":4},"title":"Black-crowned Night Heron Fly By","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent yesterday morning photographing at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Box Elder County, Utah. Black-crowned Night Herons seemed to be everywhere on the south side of the auto tour loop, both adults and hatch year birds.","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":"Adult Black-crowned Night Heron in flight at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/black-crowned-night-heron-flight-mia-mcpherson-4224.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/black-crowned-night-heron-flight-mia-mcpherson-4224.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/black-crowned-night-heron-flight-mia-mcpherson-4224.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/black-crowned-night-heron-flight-mia-mcpherson-4224.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8512,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/03\/juvenile-black-crowned-night-heron-stalking-prey\/","url_meta":{"origin":52108,"position":5},"title":"Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron Stalking Prey","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron Stalking prey at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in northern Utah","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 in a marsh at 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-mia-mcpherson-4465.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-mia-mcpherson-4465.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-mia-mcpherson-4465.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/black-crowned-night-heron-mia-mcpherson-4465.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}