Threatened in Pennsylvania and debatable as to whether they nest locally, seeing Black-crowned Night-Herons in our area is quite a treat. While I basically consider them a junk bird when I bird the New Jersey coast, I was very pleased when a Juvenile Came out this morning when I was trying to relocate the Sandhill Crane. After that sighting I decided it would be worth checking out Forty Fort in the evening and was well rewarded. There were 3 juveniles and 2 adults.

UPDATE: I was talking over Black-crowned Night Herons with local naturalist Rick Koval and it seems we have a rich history of nesting BCNHs. In fact not long ago the largest nesting colony in the state was in Pittston. However it is speculated that our Great Horned Owl population decimated the colony and left a bad taste for nesting in that spot. So in all likelihood they are nesting and the sightings we get around this time of year and earlier are local birds in a dispersal. The only thing is that the rookery has not been found. We also speculated on Double-crested Cormorants nesting as there have been many summer sightings, including juveniles.