Malayan Night Heron

Hi everyone Happy Thanksgiving, I have been mostly offline photographing in Thailand and Taiwan with NPN member Chuck Gangas and another photographer the past couple of weeks.  This shot is from Chaiyi, Taiwan.  This species which I had never seen before and is reclusive in most of it's range is now easily seen in the open in city parks in Taiwan.  Interestingly it was also rarely seen in the open until a few years in Taiwan.  This juvenile was hunting worms on the lawn of the park and was very tame.  I am guessing the change in behavior in this species which has as far as we know only occurred on Taiwan may be evolution in action, over the years birds learned that humans in cities in Taiwan were no longer a threat whereas in the past these birds may have been hunted and persecuted.  In this shot the wind was blowing the crest, I could have used a bit more room at the bottom but I was happy to get the crest up here. 

Canon 1DX II, 500F4 1/1250 F5.6, iso 800, handheld