Night Herons in Santa Rosa

Since we don’t get Night Herons in the Pacific Northwest, I’m always pleased when I see them in California. In fact, we often drive out of our way to Colusa National Wildlife Refuge just to see the large flock there. Usually we see them tucked into the branches or hiding in the shrubs around the lake.

It’s very rare to see them out in the open like we did this one at Spring Lake in Santa Rosa.

It’s even rarer to see them with as fish in their mouth like this one.

I’ll have to admit, though, that I was thrilled to be able to shoot them from a completely different angle like I did at the Santa Rosa rookery,

particularly shots of them flying up into the tree to build their nest.

6 thoughts on “Night Herons in Santa Rosa”

  1. A fish and a nest-building shot—nice little haul! Was this Spring Lake or next door at Lake Ralphine? My occasional sightings of them have been more often at Ralphine, I think, though I don’t suspect they’d be shy about commuting the few hundred yards to another meal venue…

    1. Spring Lake. At the end where you come in from Lake Ralphine. There’s a marshy area that’s covered in green algae at the very end of the lake. First time I’ve ever seen one out in the open like that at Spring Lake.

  2. The rookery you’re talking about is the one on 9th Street, right? It’s an amazing place to visit because they’re so accustomed to human activity there.

  3. I think there is one in the Laguna de Santa Rosa near Delta Pond near where Santa Rosa Creek runs into the Laguna. There is a cormorant rookery there for sure. I thought that perhaps you had found one on Spring Lake.

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