As the patch on the top of his head suggests, this is a yellow-crowned night-heron. He’s the more solitary and sometimes more furtive cousin to the other night-heron, the black crowned one. And as the name suggests, they do most of their work at night. Note that heavy bill. Ornithologists think it could be an adaptation for feed on crabs and other hard-shelled crustaceans. Bermuda introduced these night-herons in hopes of controlling the exploding land crab population. The plan worked!
Herons are generally wonderful to photograph because they tend to sit still for many minutes at a time. This is especially true of night-herons, which tend to be quite lethargic during the day. I got this shot in one of my favorite birding spots, the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary near Naples, Florida. They live in southern Florida year around, but you can find them in the summer months as far inland as eastern Oklahoma.