After seeing reports of a Black-crowned Night Heron at Green Pond the night before, I decided to go over there first thing in the morning to see if it was still there. I parked by the pond and searched the edges around it. I spotted 2 Great Blue Herons, but there was no sign of the Night Heron.
I headed across the road to check the retention ponds for it. I found a Great Egret in the pond along Farmersville Road with 73 Mallards. The fencing around the pond and the treeline on its south edge produced a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, 2 Eastern Phoebes, a Blue-headed Vireo, a Tree Swallow, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, an Eastern Bluebird, several White-throated and Chipping Sparrows, and 2 Dark-eyed Juncos.
After walking between the two ponds, one of the volunteers from the development's homeowners' association walked over and told me that they were going to turn on the irrigation system surrounding the ponds and let me know that if I stayed where I was, I would end up very wet. I thanked him for letting me know and told him that I would be out of there in the next 15 minutes or so. I then continued to the back end of the overgrown flooded field area. After seeing 9 Brown-headed Cowbirds and several Savannah and Song Sparrows, a bird popped up about 8 feet away atop the brush. Its yellow undertail coverts were in heavy contrast to the rest of the bird, which was a drab olive. The head was grayish with a dark eye line. Putting all this together, I realized it was an
Orange-crowned Warbler! I slowly raised my camera to try and get a photo, but as I got it up close to my eye, the bird flew about 30 feet out and dropped down into the overgrown area and was not seen again. I tried to 'spish' it back up, but couldn't. And I couldn't hang around much longer because of the irrigation situation, so I reluctantly headed out to the road and walked over the small, wooded pond next to the house at the intersection by the pond. There, I found a Lincoln's Sparrow at the back end of it.
As I walked along the road at the northeast corner of Green Pond, I noticed a good-sized, chunky bird perched about 12 feet up in a tree at its edge. It was the immature
Black-crowned Night Heron! That's when Adam Miller drove up and I pointed it out to him. I took a bunch of photos, trying to get the best angle of it through the branches. Here are the results.
Also seen around the pond were a Cooper's Hawk, a Common Raven, a Belted Kingfisher, a Green-winged Teal, and a Red Fox getting a drink.
I eventually left there and checked out the Hollo Road retention pond. There, I saw 15 Green-winged Teal, 4 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 3 Savannah and 2 Field Sparrows among 13 Song Sparrows.
Late in the day, I returned to Green Pond to see if I could refind the Orange-crowned Warbler and maybe get a photo of it. Although I came up empty, I did see 2 Green-winged Teal, an American Black Duck, a Great Egret, a Great Blue Heron, 2 Eastern Phoebes, 5 Tree Swallows, and one Chipping and 5 White-throated Sparrows. At Green Pond, the immature Black-crowned Night Heron was sleeping in the same tree I saw it earlier in the day.
