Great Blue Heron

It's always a good day when the heron appears behind the house. It looks like he's already outfitted in his breeding plumage - although in this shot you can't really see the fancy feather thingy that shoots off the back of his head. Also - I actually saw him catch and eat a fish! But my shot of that was very blurry. It was coming on dusk, which didn't help the photographic situation either.

Edit - having researched the matter a bit, I think this bird isn't yet fully outfitted with its mating regalia. Also - it appears that both males and females get the dense back and neck feathers during the mating season. No mention of how to tell males from females - unless maybe you actually witness mating. Or one of them laying an actual egg!