Black-crowned night heron on the Mystic

Photo by Michael

These black-crowned (or black-crested) night herons are more comfortable with proximity to people than the great blue herons, but they don’t like being approached from behind. While we’ve mostly seen them perched just above the water line on a branch or bank, they’re also happy to land on branches 10 feet over the river. We’ve seen up to four of these small herons on the Mystic near the house, but a few days ago they all moved on.