Man I thought I was familiar with most of the birds in PA........I looked out the back window tonight in time to see one of these buggers fly onto a limb eye level with me.
It was sooooooo different from any otherheron I had seen I wasn't sure WHAT I was looking at. Seemed like it flew funny too, almost like it was in slow motion.
I grabbed the binos and a pencil and sketched him making note of the markings and colors, but what most struck me was the long white plume off the back of his crown.
Turns out he's a Black Crowned Night Heron (Not sure why he is called a BLACK because he looked like a Kingfisher on steroids![:-]Very gray blue with a blue beak.

Anyway, just thought I'd share........not sure if they are fairly rare or not but I'm 35yrs old and that's the first one I've ever seen to my knowledge. BEAUTIFUL bird. I have a nice little stream with lots of fish and frog life and that's the 3rd heron species I have seen in my backyard this year.