I had a nice surprise on an afternoon visit to Sunrise Valley Park in
Reston this afternoon.
As I entered the bridge over the pond (coming from the parking lot) I
saw a Great blue Heron flying off to my right. I then scanned along the
bank of the pond on the right and noticed a smaller heron sitting on a
branch over the edge ot the pond. The bird was about 2 feet tall. I
set up my scope and took a close look. Much to my surprise, it was a
Black crowned Night Heron. It had a black crown and black down it's
back. Had a small white plume on the back of the neck. There was no
black below the red eye. The wings were slate gray and the breast was
white. The neck was white with gray mixed in. Legs were yellow. I've
been visiting this park on a pretty regular basis for a couple years now
and this is the first time I've seen a night heron there. (How about
you Ron? Carol?)
My other sightings in my quick visit to the park:
Towhee
RW Blackbird
GB Heron
Green Heron
N. Mockingbird
Gray Catbird
E. Kingbird
E. Phoebe
Killdeer
Chimney Swift
M. Dove
Song Sparrow
Am. Robin
Am. Goldfinch
Am. Crow
--allen
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