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Welcome to the Pine River Review. Our sight is dedicated to our little homestead located along the Pine River tucked inside the Chippewa Nature Center's 1400 Acres of wild in Michigan's lower penninsula. We love to share our pictures, video, comment, and our own homespun music. Step inside our world as we celebrate this beautiful nook!


Tuesday, May 24, 2011

World Bird Wednesday XXVII

                  Working On My Night Moves

Until a couple of weeks ago I had no idea Michigan even had Night-herons fluttering about. My wimpy "Birds of Michigan" field guide doesn't mention them and I only saw my first one in Florida last winter. No wonder I find myself fascinated and confused at the same time like a love sick kid. Night herons seem much more cordial to a photographers presence than the elusive Green heron that bolts at the slightest disturbance. Very curious, and why should the dull colored "second summer" Night-heron in the first picture be sporting adult breeding plumes? Perhaps this is perfectly normal and more than likely it is. The world seems to be spinning faster these days when even my own nieces and nephews are far ahead of the traditional learning curve when it comes to the pleasures and privileges of adulthood. I suppose it makes more sense when kids try to act like adults then when oafish grownups misguidedly don the trappings of youth in a hapless display of extended adolescence!  


Here is an adult Black Crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) ankle deep in the marsh. There is something reminiscent of a penguin here with his short bottom and formal tuxedo plumage. It must be the long winter that has me seeing penguins in a Great Lakes marsh in May. Even the pitfalls of my own excruciating obsolescence wouldn't account for an hallucination of this magnitude!


          Now it's time for World Bird Wednesday!

  This is the home of World Bird Wednesday. A place for bird photographers from around the world to gather and share their photographs and experiences as they pursue Natures most diverse and beautiful treasurers, the birds.
  World Bird Wednesday will be open for posting at 12 noon Tuesday EST North America through midnight on Wednesday.
  You are invited to link your blog with other bird photographers in a weekly celebration of these most diverse and intriguing of Earth's residents, the BIRDS.

                                                  CLICK THIS PICTURE!

#1. Simply copy the above picture onto your W.B.W. blog entry. It contains a link for your readers to share in WBW. Or you can copy this link on to your blog page to share W.B.W. http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/


#2. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST North America through Wednesday midnight and submit your blog entry with Linky.

#3. Check back in during the course of the next day and explore these excellent photoblogs!

You don't have to be a Bird Watcher or expert photographer to join in--just enjoy sharing what you bring back from your explorations and adventures into nature.The idea of a meme is that you will visit each others blogs and perhaps leave a comment to encourage your compadres!

The thumbnails below are links to our contributors blogs. Click on them and view their beautiful posts.

                     Come on it's your turn!

32 comments:

  1. Superb photos Springman. Night Herons are my favourite of the Heron species and I have been fortunate to see them on my visits to the states. We get the occasional one turning up here in the UK but very very rarely.

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  2. Great shots, Springman! Night herons are such beautiful birds, and congrats on getting so close to them. Around me, they are a species that I very rarely have the pleasure of photographing at close range. Nice commentary on the youngster with breeding plumes too ;-)

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  3. Beautiful images of the Black-crowned Night heron!

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  4. As always, your pictures are wonderful. I love night herons, although haven't seen any here in Florida! There is (or was anyway) a rookery tree in downtown Eureka CA. We visited several times and spent hours looking. That was in ancient times (pre-digital) ...must go there again.

    Thanks for hosting! I'll be back later today to visit everybody else.

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  5. Fabulous shots! He does kind of remind me of a penguin.

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  6. Springman, great capture of the heron, and wonderful shots. Our Night Herons tend to be a bit more difficult. Generally in the deepest part of a tree, tucked down and asleep. I'd die for a shot like either one of these!

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  7. Gorgeous shots! None of these birds here on the prairie, but I did shoot a hummer for my submission today. :)

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  8. Wow where do you see this beautiful bird? Birding is fun and my the result of my backyard birding...got the indigo bunting smack right on the bird feeder ^_^


    Indigo Bunting

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  9. Hello Everyone, Welcome to WBWXXVII!
    Thank you so much for the comments, I can never say that enough!
    Its a gorgeous day in Mid-Michigan so I'm going to play hooky from chores and head out for parts unknown. The plan is to be back after night fall with a red forehead and a thousand pictures in tow. Then we'll kick back and see where everyone's been this week.
    Sounds like a perfect day!

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  10. A beautiful Heron to see.
    Great images...so sharp.

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  11. Great shots of the night heron. I love their bright red eyes.

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  12. what great shots! i've only seen 2 juvenile night herons stop here at our pond.

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  13. excellent shots of the night herons. I have seen them but not this good of course. :)

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  14. Great photos! I never seen one in real, what a beautiful bird! Have a nice week :)

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  15. Hi there - great shots of the herons - I always feel like I've seen something when I've seen a heron - but they can be difficult to photograph!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Australia

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  16. Awesome shots of the BC Night Heron. Maybe there is a rookery nearby. Thanks for sharing and thanks for hosting another WBW!

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  17. Springman, Not only are your Heron captures very,very good but also your script. You are an excellent and very entertaining writer!!!

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  18. Hey Dave, Jean is right on. You have excellent photos of your birds, these Black-crowned Night-Herons clearly show your photographic prowess, but your pros are just fantastic and fun to read! Thanks for hosting another World Bird Wednesday!

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  19. Such an interesting post and most excellent photography!

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  20. Gorgeous bird and your photos are superb!

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  21. Those Nigh-Heron photos are brilliant!

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  22. OH yeah...What a bird!! I saw the first ever for me in Texas on a Golf Course! What a surprise that was--Im here to tell ya when Im out and about I see 50+'s acting like 20somethings it knda makes me wonder if they think they are fooling anyone? hmmm lol

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  23. Extended adolescence? You MUST be speaking of the male of our species? LOL

    Absolutely gorgeous photos! The green heron that hangs out at the pond won't stay still for my camera either. But I'll get him one day!

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  24. Marvelous Night Heron images! They're all great but I especially like the Night Heron as penguin look alike for the brilliance of color and detail!

    I first saw several of these birds along the Potomac River near Washington, DC (YEARS ago) and had NO IDEA at the time (it was well before getting hooked on digital photography AND birding) what I was seeing. A few years later, in Costa Rica with an Audubon Guide, I finally knew what I'd seen locally. (how old is your bird book? mine was very old and some birds that didn't used to be in our area are now and were NOT in my very old bird book as ranging here)

    Thanks for dropping by to see my crabs and shorebirds post... it WAS fun and quite amazing as well.

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  25. Are we talking recycled teenagers in beerbelly hugging distressed jeans?
    Didn't quite get the drift of your reasoning today :-)
    Sadly my store of bird pictures is no longer getting replenished, so I have to duck out.

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  26. Very nice shots, I have to say that the quality of your photos has improved a lot since I first visited your blog!

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  27. Great shots, I love the first one's little pony tail!

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  28. I am so impressed with your photos of the night herons! I only discovered them here in Ottawa (Ontario) a couple of years ago, but now I see them a few times a year, like the greens and the great blues!

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  29. Such beautiful birds and magnificent captures of them. I like your social commentary as well -:)

    Sorry I have not been around lately but internet access was rather scanty all last month.

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