[EBB Sightings] Yellow-Crowned Night Heron?

Greetings, all.
   Yesterday (2/12/05), while enjoying the beautiful
afternoon at Lake Merritt, I was pretty sure I saw a
juvenile ellow-crowned night heron near a number of
black-crowned on the northern-most island of the
refuge area. Given the indication in Sibley's that
they're not all that common around here, I'd like to
be sure that's what I saw. 
   Has anyone else seen this bird? Am I correct in
vaguely remembering mention of a yellow-crowned by
list members some time ago? 
   There were plenty of the regulars on hand, too.
More black-crowned than I've ever seen in one place,
goldeneyes, scaups, ring-necked and ruddy ducks,
canvassback, buffleheads, Canada geese and
pied-billed, eared and horned grebes. There were also
scads of double-crested cormorants roosting/nesting in
the tall trees on the islands.
   Speaking of ruddys, I've been interested to see
that the ones I've seen at Merritt and Berkeley
Aquatic Park in the last couple of weeks still show
non-breeding plumage, while those at Lake Temescal a
couple of weeks ago were resplendent in their breeding
colors. Is this unusual?
   Thanks for any confirmation or insights folks can
give.
Happy Valentine's Day.
Alan Howe
Oakland
  


		
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