Today's weather was all over the map. It ranged from heavy rain with snow to sunshine. I started out trying to find the Prairie Falcon NW of Forest Grove on Harrington Road and Kerkman Road, but I had no luck. I saw many American Kestrels, but no Falcons.By the time I gave up on the Prairie Falcon, the sunshine had given way to clouds. I decided to to see if I could improve my luck by finding the Acorn Woodpeckers at Delta Park or the Black-crowned Night-Herons off Marine Drive. But on my way there, it began to rain heavily with a mix of snow, so I reset my GPS to Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. By the time I got to Ridgefield, the sun was out again. I drove the auto tour and got some great pictures of a Kestrel eating a rodent.
On my way home, I decided to try for the Woodpecker and Heron again since the rain had stopped. I had no luck with the Acorn Woodpecker, but the Black-crowned Night-Herons panned out. As reported by others that had seen these birds, they are somewhat difficult to see, roasting among the pine branches fairly high up in the trees. It was also starting to get dark with an overcast sky, so the lighting was bad. I did manage to get a reasonable picture seen above. I spotted three Herons in all.
While I was taking pictures, a woman who said she lived across the street on the second floor, stopped by and told me that she had seen as many a nine Herons in the trees a one time a couple of years ago. She can see them from her apartment window.
I saw two black-crowned Night-Herons while in Las Vegas. The first was at Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve seen in the top image. It was quite a ways from me, so I wasn't sure what it was as it looked like a big white blob. It didn't help that it initially had its head tucked away.
