July 26

The mother of the chunky, juvenile Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron showed interesting behavior this morning. When I went through the covered boardwalk entrance, she was standing on the left side of the railing facing a pair of Yellow-Crowned-Night Herons; one juvenile and one grown bird that I thought was the mother of the young bird. The pair of Yellow-Crowned-Night Herons stood not far from the mother of the chunky, juvenile bird. I had seen and I knew her strong character, defensive attitude such as, lowering her head towards in-coming birds showing her readiness for a confrontation, and if the bird did not go away, she attacked.

However this morning, the mother of the chunky, juvenile Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron didn’t have a defensive posture, but just stood there watching. Interestingly, after for a while, the mother of the chunky, juvenile Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron turned back to the pair of herons, looking down at the water for a couple minutes, and flew down to the floating dead tree trunk to hunt.

I was puzzled. The strong mother accepted the other pair of Yellow-Crowned-Night Herons in her territory and they stood together without any incident. It was an unexpected scene to observe. I wondered whether the female heron was her offspring of past years; and also, I wondered whether the Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron had the ability to recognize its offspring from past years or not.

A juvenile Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron and its mother stood there and watched the mother of the chunky, juvenile Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron hunting for a while; but eventually, flew out and perched on the dead tree branch near the “Keep Off” enclosure.

A single swallow like bird was flying around the wetlands. The speed and elegant flight brought a moment of freshness. From its white cheeks and the under parts, I thought that it was a Violet-Green Swallow. The bird might be strayed from the flock, but I was glad to see that beautiful passerby.

I saw some Nutrias in the wetlands, but I noticed that the number of Nutrias in the lake were less than yesterday.