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A baby Black-crowned Night Heron squawks in its incubator while being cared for at City Wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center in Washington, DC on May 31, 2017. The heron is one of several that have been brought to CW by the staff at The National Zoo over the past few years. The heron is a native bird and has made an established rookery inside the zoo grounds over a hundred years ago. Every year at this time, some of the chicks get pushed or fall out of the nest and require human care. Because the birds are native and not part of the Smithsonian collection, they partnered with CW to rehabilitate the herons for re-release back to the flock inside Zoo. They're reintroduced back to their flock so that they can migrate together in the Fall. The Black-crowned heron usually migrates from the DC area down to southeast North Carolina, some going as far as Jacksonville, FL in winter. The Black-crowned heron is the species of greatest conservation need in the District of Columbia because their numbers are in such rapid decline due to habitat loss. (Photo Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)
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