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The Fens attract all sorts of visitors

Juvenile yellow-crowned night heron

Mary Ellen spotted this juvenile yellow-crowned night heron in the Back Bay Fens, amazingly serene given what's going on right behind it:

Heron in front of construction equipment
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Comments

He just follows Mary Ellen around all day saying "Adorable!" after every click.

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that must be the Great Heron god I've heard about.

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he goes about his business. You've seen one god, you've seen 'em all.

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Phragmite removal? Replacing the visitor center?

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So dredging and general restoration of the banks, which includes removal of invasive plant species, of which the reeds are, um, the invasivest.

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Yellow-crowned night herons are occasionally seen in Massachusetts, but are not thought to breed here, so the presence of a juvenile is unusual.

https://www.massaudubon.org/our-conservation-work/wildlife-research-cons...

Other heron species have expanded their range northwards over the last century, so perhaps the yellow-crowned is finally following suit. A late convert to acceptance of the reality of climate change.

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You have got to be kidding me.
Duringbwhat remains of the herring run in May, etc. they are COMMON along the Charles.

Get out and look because that statement is garbage.

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It's worth noting that the Fens are home to the Muddy River, not the Charles. I have seen herons on the Muddy River, but as near as I could tell they were great blue herons, adults. The range map of the yellow-crowned night heron does not show Boston as being in this range, so this is remarkable and not "garbage" as you so rudely put it.

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I think you are thinking of Black-Crowned Night Herons

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Blue herons are extremely common.

Green herons are very shy and hard to spot, but not rare.

Black crowned night herons are seen often.

YELLOW crowned night herons are unheard of in the Boston area.

IMAGE(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f0/9e/4a/f09e4a2d7e48e19f6f643f78e481f7c7.jpg)

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A few weeks back, prior to the water level being manually lowered, the Aberjona in Winchester had four Black Crowned Night Herons that could be seen hunting by the dam. Had to use my Merlin bird ID app to figure out what they were--neat birds.

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Junior reporter fishin' up a story for...Dredge Report.

...

I am so sorry.

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