Trifecta!

A few weeks ago I was cutting through the Notebaert Nature Museum after a run, hoping to see some herons. I’ve seen a few great blue herons around North Pond, so it figured to be a good bet. It also didn’t hurt that it was sunset.

After looking in a few trees I still hadn’t seen anything exciting, and was about ready to right it off as an evening of nothing but mallards. But then I saw something that could only be a heron, but it certainly wasn’t a blue heron. I looked it up at home, and decided it was a black-crowned night heron. I was excited. It was the first time I had ever seen this species.

So, this Thursday I walked the same way, hoping to another night heron. I looked in the tree where I saw the first one, and there was a blue heron wading in the shallows, but no night heron. I checked the next few trees, but saw no herons.

Then I saw another blue heron stalking around some submerged roots. I scanned the rest of the tree, and saw a funny little bird I’d never seen before. It had a greenish head, a brownish breast, and a white stripe on its neck. It had to be a green heron (look at the second picture--that's more how it looked. And how it was behaving). A blue heron and a green heron in the same tree. And then wait, could it be? Yes! The night heron was in the tree too! Three species of heron in the same tree!

It was the best nature experience I’ve had in at least six months.