I had the day off of work today but didn't get to the park until the afternoon. I had one particular goal in mind actually and that was to find and photograph a Green Heron. It took me a while but I did end up locating one in the small pond on the east side just north of the parking lot. I had to bushwack a little while being extremely quiet and not scare the bird away, but I finally got into a good position to watch my subject for quite some time. This bird was likely a young one as evident by the whispy, white feathers on it's head that stood straight up.
I've heard that Green Herons will actually catch small prey like a Dragonfly and then dip that in the water to attract a larger fish, but that behavior is something i've still yet to witness in real life. This one did seem to pull something out of the water but I couldn't tell exactly what it was. I think I watch this bird for nearly 40 minutes before he wound up on the other side of the pond in some dark shadows. A fun experience though for sure, and one that yielded some acceptable photos :) I thought I was basically done for the day but later I ended up with very close views of another young bird, this time an American Redstart. Redstarts are Warblers and notoriously difficult to photograph because the move so quickly and so frequently.
But this one was so busy preening itself that it let me approach closely. At a young age, the male American Redstart looks an awful lot like an adult female Redstart. So they are often confused. But one thing to look for to differentiate them is any indication of dark patches on the face or head. Generally a female will be all grey and not show any trace of dark or black feathering here. So I think I can safely say that this is a juvenile male American Redstart.
I've heard that Green Herons will actually catch small prey like a Dragonfly and then dip that in the water to attract a larger fish, but that behavior is something i've still yet to witness in real life. This one did seem to pull something out of the water but I couldn't tell exactly what it was. I think I watch this bird for nearly 40 minutes before he wound up on the other side of the pond in some dark shadows. A fun experience though for sure, and one that yielded some acceptable photos :) I thought I was basically done for the day but later I ended up with very close views of another young bird, this time an American Redstart. Redstarts are Warblers and notoriously difficult to photograph because the move so quickly and so frequently. 
But this one was so busy preening itself that it let me approach closely. At a young age, the male American Redstart looks an awful lot like an adult female Redstart. So they are often confused. But one thing to look for to differentiate them is any indication of dark patches on the face or head. Generally a female will be all grey and not show any trace of dark or black feathering here. So I think I can safely say that this is a juvenile male American Redstart.
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