Another entry for my 'West Australian birds I have seen' list - Nankeen night heron

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While sitting quietly on the deck of our friends’ boat while it was moored in the Swan River in Western Australia, we watched two birds wandering up and down the pier looking for food. At the time, I didn’t know what they were but I’ve now identified them as Nankeen night herons (Nycticorax caledonicus). They emerge only in the twilight and roost in dense foliage during the day. They have a large head but short neck so much of the time they look very round-shouldered. During the breeding seas, the back of the head has three white ‘nuptial plumes’. Because of the rich cinnamon colouring on the upperparts, they are also called the ‘rufous night heron’. The ones we saw were quite unafraid of us and went about their business quietly, going from boat to boat and sitting on the mooring ropes before diving into the river to re-emerge with a fish in its beak. Another entry I can add to my list of ‘birds I’ve seen’. I couldn’t get a decent photo but thanks to JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, I can show you what the Nankeen night heron looks like.