Little Blue Heron or Yellow Crowned Heron ?

This is, I am pretty sure, a Yellow Crowned Night Heron taken yesterday as it was walking across the driveway at St Martin's Marsh.





And those are what I am calling the Little Blue Heron as it is eating a frog or something, also taken yesterday.

Mossy, I thank you for the info you sent me but I am not sure how to use the message thing...sometimes even properly IDed photos are hard to use for Id of a strange bird...will check out the sites you mentioned...Shirley

No bother Shirley, i have a couple of American fieldguides, as we occasionally get the odd visitor from the USA to our shores, a rare occasion but always a nice surprise.

Thank you Shirley, I saw my first one, ever, yesterday, in the creek behind our house, and I wasn't sure what it was, and now I know. Thank you x

I spent a lot of time searching out these two birds this morning....I am now sure that both are Yellow Crowned Herons...many Yellow Crowned ones have white heads....the tell tale feature is the yellow legs! The Little Blue Heron always has black legs. Many birds have differences in coloring from the ideal and that sure makes it hard to ID! Take the white Great Blue Heron..is it a Heron or a Great WHite Egret? I have seen both and only a close look at the beak can tell the difference. Shirley

Yellow Crowned Night Heron Lovely.

xx