As a New England birder, I am always delighted by the herons. Our marshes are dominated by the Great Blue Heron. But Southwest Florida, wow! And one of the favorites is the black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax). The name leads one to wonder why it and its relatives are called “night herons,” and the answer is an obvious one. They are pretty sedentary during the day but active from dusk to dawn feeding on pretty much everything that wiggles.

The black-crowned of Figure 1 was photographed in a mangrove at the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island in January. The distinctive red eye seems all so knowing, or is it the effect of endlessly and sleeplessly burning the midnight oil?