An esoteric question to be sure but I think about stuff like that, especially when I get photos like some of these.
1/4000, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
Ten days ago I found this lone adult Black-crowned Night Heron perched on a stump of old phrag stems in the middle of a small pond. “He’ very nearly spooked as I drove up but he soon settled down and eventually began to hunt for fish. At least I thought he was fishing but the only prey he caught was small aquatic insects.
This species has long, bright white occipital plumes (nuchal plumes) hanging down from the top of their heads but they often hug the body and can be difficult or impossible to see, as in this photo.
1/5000, f/6.3, ISO 400, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
It was late in the morning so the light was beginning to get harsh and I was having difficulty getting light in his eye. And he wasn’t catching any fish anyway so my goal became to try to capture his head plumes flying up in weird directions when he made strikes for prey – and when he’d shake his head after a strike. I’m easily entertained by photos like that.
1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 400, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
It was pretty easy to do. I got quite a few photos similar to this one.
1/5000, f/6.3, ISO 400, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
After a strike he’d shake his head to get rid of water and sometimes I captured his plumes sticking straight up, or nearly so. Oodles of shutter speed helped to get them sharp.
I’ve never been able to get a definitive answer regarding how many head plumes this species is supposed to have. Most sources (including Cornell’s Birds of the World) only say that they have white head plumes but they don’t say how many. But one source, Natureworks, actually states that “In breeding season adults have two long white plumes on their heads.”
1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 400, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
Oh, really? Then why does this guy have three? I got quite a few photos of him that clearly show three head plumes. Geez, I thought everything I read on the internet is true…
In the end I still don’t know if adult Black-crowned Night Herons have a specific number of head plumes. Or not. I suspect it may depend on variables such as age, sex (I doubt it), molt stage, genetic variation and the vagaries of a strenuous life that does damage to feathers.
Ron
Late addendum:
I made an error in my post when I said that Cornell’s Birds of the World doesn’t say how many plumes this species has. I looked in the “Identification” section where all it said about plumes was “and white head plumes are well developed”. But Lyle Anderson found more info on plumes in BotW in the Definitive Basic Plumage section where it says:
“Crest glossy greenish black with 1–8 (average 2–3) long white occipital plumes, sometimes blackish or gray at base (see below)…. Occipital plumes average longer in males than females (Gross 1923, Palmer 1962a, Pyle 2008), and in mated pairs the males sometimes have one or two more than the female (Noble et al. 1938).”
Thanks, Lyle. Wow, up to 8 plumes! Now that’s something I’d like to see.
A great sequence of action shots showing that THIS heron has at least three plumes.
All I kept thinking of was the old commercial with an owl trying to determine how many licks it took to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.
Hey, at least it had a bird in it.
Along with your legion of fans, I am now on the hunt for the 8-plumed Black-crowned Night Heron!
Wally, I don’t remember that commercial. And I’m definitely old enough.
If I ever find an 8-plumed heron it sure would be fun to post photos of it here.
Oh wow. And now my very greedy self would like to see a black crowned night heron with eight plumes. When I read the question my ignorant self thought one, or perhaps two. Wrong again. Less is definitely not more. And I loved the reflection shots in particular.
EC, I took many full body, vertical composition, reflection shots of this bird but by then it was so late in the morning his eye was mostly dark and lifeless. I was quite disappointed.
I am sure you were – but am very grateful for these shots.
Getting to this veery late today but you’ve asked a question I’ve often wondered about myself. Details like this are always fascinating. Birds of the World is a great and highly reliable resource, but as you know, not all internet can be trusted. I just recently wrote an article debunking many internet statements about birds. One of the worst said to never feed hummingbirds sugar water because they only eat nectar (which of course if nearly pure sugar) and it will give them diabetes. I wrote a little more than a page to just correct the enormity of errors just in that statement. I’m glad you finally found a good answer. It is interesting to know the number of plumes is variable.
I was hoping you’d weigh in on this, Dan. And I agree with you about the internet – even mostly trusted sources like Cornell can and do make mistakes or have outdated information.
This guy’s plumes look more like phrags in that final photo. Thanks for a fun and informative post. I have a photo of a one I took on Maui, it appears he has one very thick plume hanging down the side of his head, but perhaps it’s 3 or more “stuck” together. I’ll just never know. 🤔
Chris, if it’s “very thick” it probably is more than one.
Wow, wow, wow! A sight I would never otherwise see and therefore, likely information and knowledge of a bird I would never otherwise stumble across. It’s a satisfying way indeed to start a Sun afternoon.
Much appreciated, Granny Pat.
Enjoyable and educational! I have to say I really adore how much the internet has opened my horizons. Even in NM! Just saw a picture of a purple gallinule.
Thanks, Arwen. The internet is a valuable tool as long as we don’t leave our critical thinking skills behind.
Always enjoy the photos. But the narrative on the day, what was going on, and the ornithology discussions make it all these more fun and informative.
Thanks, Ron.
Good to know. Thank you, Michael.
Love this post. Relatively frivolous question, but an interesting one with no definite answer. Clearly this “guy” has at least 3 plumes, even though it looked like one or two much of the time. I wonder if an alien observing humans would conclude some had one thick hair and others had many fine ones, after seeing people with and without pony tails?
Nancy, the question you posed at the end made me chuckle.
Great, Nancy. Now that’s going to keep me up thinking about it. It’s when I try to sleep that questions like this leap up for attention. Lololol
The erect plumes remind me of the Little Rascal’s Alfalfa.
You captured this one in such good light. The only place I see them here are at Reifel bird sanctuary in B.C. when they are perched in the dark shade of trees.
Loved your Alfalfa comparison, Lyle.
I answered your email, please let me know.
Love that crystal clear sharp first photo and all the rest as well. If I wasn’t getting so old I would run out and buy that R5 and come up to SLC and get some lessons.
I have taken a few photos of these guys from time to time, but always a pose and never noticed any occipital plumes.
Very interesting post and will of course have me looking for them from now on.
Everett, maybe the reason you’ve never seen the plumes is because you’re mostly seeing them when it isn’t breeding season, when they don’t have any?
Just went on Birds of the World, went through their photographs, and found photos of two plumes and three. Didn’t see any more than three.
Interesting. It can be really hard to tell how many, especially when they’re wet which can make them stick together.
I don’t know of another bird species in which the male AND the female sport
the same breeding season “decoration”– is it eventually shed at the end of
the season ? “Esoteric ” stuff makes life endlessly interesting !
“is it eventually shed at the end of the season?”
I believe so, Kris. Only adults have them and only during the breeding season, at least that’s my understanding.
Mother mature will make a liar out of you every time! 😉 Nice shots! Beautiful bird when out in the open. 🙂
Moving day for the Magpies yesterday – about 40′ further from the house. Helps me but not them. Since the young are in motion the Grackles and Robins are merciless on any of them – adult or young – that talk too much. Feel half sorry for the young getting beat up – adults not so much……..
A strange one yesterday – Magpie talking to and harassing “something” in the brush across the creek – turned out to be a Cottontail rabbit – why in the world it would be a target is beyond me!
Judy, magpies just like to squawk, this time of year they don’t care at what… 🙂
Thx! Never seen anythng like it – generally coyotes are the main target here with raptors getting thrown into the mix now and then – particularly owls that came to roost “too late” or dared to move. 😉
OK, you got me! I really never thought about a Night Heron with plumes. Man am I getting old! Interesting, many thanks for bringing this up! I mean it, this is interesting stuff!!
I’m glad you find it interesting, Dick. At least one good friend is making fun of me for being so esoteric. She facetiously called it a “burning question”… 🙂
A burning question for you is just ashes for her, but who’s to tell us what ignites the fires of our interest? I lived on Long Island Sound for 20 years and was fascinated by the Night Herons. And saw the plumes and wondered how many? I always thought two. And usually elements seem to come in even numbers. Fascinating question!
“Fascinating question!”
I’m glad you think so, Sallie. Honestly, I was a little nervous about asking what I thought some would think is a silly question.
My first thought was “two” — but that’s because that’s the number of plumes I’ve seen. There’s no reason a given bird couldn’t have one plume, or three, or even more. After all, I often see ‘normally’ five-petaled flowers with six, or four petals.
But there must be a “normal” or typical number, since it’s genetically controlled. Or maybe not, as you suggest.