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  "description": "Spotted Yellow-crowned Night Herons tucked into Eastern red cedar.",
  "path": "/yellow-crowned-night-herons-at-ocean-city/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-02T16:45:45.000Z",
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  "tags": [
    "Bird Photography",
    "Eastern Red Cedar",
    "Heron",
    "Heron Species",
    "Ocean City",
    "Ocean City Rookery",
    "Ocean City Welcome Center",
    "Ocean County"
  ],
  "textContent": "Further along the waterfront, the view opened up just enough. The Yellow-crowned Night Herons had been there all along — tucked into the thick arms of Eastern red cedar, pressed flat against the phragmites. You don’t find them so much as you slowly stop missing them. I counted the ones I could actually see and suspected more were present. That’s the thing with these birds. They’re not hiding out of fear, exactly. It reads more like preference. They seem to want the world at a distance. Bhavna spotted one close in, facing us directly from deep within the cedar. I pulled the Fujinon XF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR to 600mm and the bird filled the frame — yellow-gold crown ruffled, dark slate-blue head, heavy bill, white cheek stripe, grey streaked breast. It looked like it was tolerating us rather than alarmed by us. Yellow-crowned Night Heron · Saturday 11 April 2026FujiFilm X-T3 · ISO 1600 · 1/1000 secXF150-600mmF5.6-8 R LM OIS WR · 502 mm · f/13 One appeared to be sleeping. Or maybe I caught a blink. The shutter was at 1/1000, so it was probably a blink, but the stillness of the moment made sleep seem more plausible. I’ve always preferred the Yellow-crowned over the Black-crowned. There’s something more considered about them — the yellow crown, the white nape plumes, the way they carry themselves even when standing motionless in a cedar on a cold morning. Regal is the word that comes to mind, though I’m aware that’s projecting. The phragmites blocked most of my attempts to zoom in closer. The birds seemed unbothered by this arrangement.",
  "title": "Yellow-crowned Night Herons at Ocean City",
  "updatedAt": "2026-05-01T17:22:08.000Z"
}