I left the lid from my plastic yard waste can outside just before a huge thundershower. The lid filled with water and became like a bird bath.

Each year we have Yellow-Crowned Night Heron nesting in our tall pine trees. One of the juvenile birds was using the water-filled lid as a drinking fountain.
Oh, and me without my camera.

But yesterday I happened to be in the garden, camera in hand.
Had to use the telephoto setting and the bird was back-lit, so the image quality is not too good, but here is my garden visitor.

That last shot is very nice, you should post those on the bird thread. The thread "July Backyard Birds" in Gardening for Butterflies, Birds and Bees forum

Thanks. I posted the photo on my 'photo forum' - Ugly Hedgehog - http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/ and asked/begged someone to please lighten up that shot of the bird balanced on the wire.

There is now a new-improved version thanks to RichnJude of Quebec, Canada, who made it look much brighter.

Note: I just noticed there is a typo on the title of this thread - should be Night Heron not Neron, oops, sorry .

green, don't worry about typos, I can't spell to save my soul, thank god for spell check!

I have lived in this area for my entire life and had not seen one until about 3 years ago. Now I see them all the time. This is one doing a little crabbing.

That's a fabulous shot!

Thanks.
The Night Herons are such unusual birds. I don't know why they selected our neighborhood as their birthing grounds but they come every year.
The only problem is parking cars under their nesting site - oh, what a mess.
The babies are so funny as they wander around learning about life. They are very large and ungainly, awkward things. It's like watching a comedy. Very funny.

What a cool bird!

This link has the sound made by these birds.
Turn the volume up to high to get the full effect.
http://birds.audubon.org/birds...

They sound similar to our Nankeen Night Herons flying over here. Ours are a bit more baritone.