Herons!

Yesterday when I walked past the larger pond (in the light rain) there was a green heron in the water. (In the one shot is a redwinged blackbird, to show the heron's size: he's a little, compact guy. The feather is probably a crow's.) Today, at the muskrat's pond, I was startled by a huge bird lifting off as I approached - it circled and I saw it was a yellow-crowned night heron, which is rather uncommon around here. It landed on the dead tree and stood there for a while, long enough for me to get a few shots, though the morning was quite gray and misty. Then, this afternoon, there he was, back. It was sunny, so better shots.