Black-crowned night herons

A pair of black crowned night herons - what a scoop!
See them a little bigger here.

The scientific name, Nycticorax, means "night raven", and refers to this species' nocturnal habits and harsh crow-like call, in French they are called Bihoreau Gris.

Talk about hot today, even the lizards were staying in the shade, it looks like we may be in for a storm tonight that may help clear the air a bit - I'm loving this weather though :))

I went out this evening to the usual place and boy was there wildlife around.

I saw 6 kingfishers - I took some shots but they aren't really that good, so I'll have to go back again...
I saw a red-eared slider on a grassy bank the size of a dinner plate, and counted 17 kites wheeling high above the cornfields.

There were woodpeckers, golden orioles and a huge variety of dragon flies, sandpipers, grebes, purple herons, egrets, jays and some sort of small diving duck, kestrels a sparrow hawk, red deer, black swans and hares.

I could have stayed there for ages!

In order to get some kingfisher shots I think I'll have to build some sort of hide from branches on the lakes side as they came really close, I was crouching and trying to hide behind a bush, but they caught sight of me and turned tail before I got a decent shot.

Hope your Thursday was good :)