Yellow-crowned Night Herons

Nyctanassa violacea

Yellow-crowned Night Herons are small, stocky herons with short necks and legs, short thick bills, blocky heads and are primarily gray in color. During the breeding season they have a long, white plume on their heads.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron At Sequoyah NWR

By |2023-07-03T08:55:03-06:00June 28th, 2023|Categories: Birds, Oklahoma, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Yellow-crowned Night Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Until a few days ago, I hadn't photographed a single Yellow-crowned Night Heron in almost fourteen years. I photographed this one at Sequoyah NWR in Oklahoma.

World Wetlands Day 2021

By |2024-03-13T04:38:39-06:00February 2nd, 2021|Categories: American Bitterns, American Coots, Bald Eagles, Barn Owls, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Black-crowned Night Herons, Blue-winged Teals, Brewer's Blackbirds, Centennial Valley, Cinnamon Teals, Common Checkered-Skippers, Common Mergansers, Conservation, Eight-spotted Skimmers, Environment, Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Greater Scaups, Green-winged Teals, Halloween Pennants, Hooded Mergansers, Least Sandpipers, Lesser Scaups, Long-tailed Weasels, Marsh Wrens, Montana, Moose, Muskrats, Northern Harriers, Northern Pintails, Northern Shovelers, Pectoral Sandpipers, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Red-breasted Mergansers, Red-winged Blackbirds, Reddish Egrets, Redheads, Ruddy Ducks, Rusty Blackbirds, Sandhill Cranes, Scarlet Skimmers, Snowy Egrets, Spotted Sandpipers, Tricolored Herons, Trumpeter Swans, Tundra Swans, Utah, Variegated Meadowhawk, White-faced Ibises, Wildflowers, Wilson's Phalaropes, Yellow-crowned Night Herons, Yellow-headed Blackbirds|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

February 2nd is World Wetlands Day to raise global awareness about the critical role of wetlands for people, wildlife and our planet.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron In Low Light

By |2021-07-03T04:10:20-06:00January 4th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Yellow-crowned Night Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

The first bird I photographed that day was a Yellow-crowned Night Heron wandering in the sea fog near the dunes and shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico.

Strolling Yellow-crowned Night Heron – Thinking Back on Brighter, Warmer Days

By |2017-01-20T07:56:51-07:00January 10th, 2017|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Yellow-crowned Night Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , |

This morning my mind drifted back to June of 2009, to a bright, warm day on the Gulf coast of Florida and a strolling Yellow-crowned Night Heron that I photographed as waves churned up behind it.

Gulf Shore Yellow-crowned Night Heron

By |2021-07-03T04:07:15-06:00September 2nd, 2016|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Yellow-crowned Night Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I did see and photograph this adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron standing on a grassy sand dune overlooking the Gulf of Mexico in beautiful, soft light.

Bird images from warmer days and all at 300mm or less

By |2016-12-07T12:12:16-07:00January 26th, 2013|Categories: Birds, Fish Crows, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Ghost Crabs, Laughing Gulls, Pinellas County, Short-billed Dowitchers, Willets, Yellow-crowned Night Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Gray skies, freezing temps and the inversions are beginning to get to me so I thought I would share some bird images from warmer days on Fort De Soto County Park's north beach in sunny Florida.

Comparing Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night Herons

By |2021-05-13T06:37:27-06:00January 22nd, 2013|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Bird ID, Black-crowned Night Herons, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Utah, Yellow-crowned Night Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

The adult Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night Herons aren't terribly difficult to tell apart though the juveniles can be more of a challenge.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron or Orange-eyed Day Heron?

By |2021-07-03T04:02:03-06:00September 4th, 2012|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Yellow-crowned Night Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Despite having "Night Heron" in their name Yellow-crowned Night Herons (Nyctanassa violacea) are not strictly denizens of the dark, they can and do stalk their prey during the daylight hours too.

Birds with “Blown Eyes”

By |2021-08-26T17:18:19-06:00February 27th, 2012|Categories: American Oystercatchers, Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Glacier County, Great Horned Owls, Montana, Pinellas County, Yellow-crowned Night Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I recently read about a congenital condition in humans called "iris colobomas" which is also found in other mammals and birds and have begun to wonder if that might not be the cause of the abnormal pupils I see in some species of birds instead of an injury to the eye.

Juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron

By |2021-07-03T04:11:23-06:00July 2nd, 2011|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Yellow-crowned Night Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

This young Yellow-crowned Night Heron moved very slowly and it seemed to do that deliberately.

Hungry Yellow-crowned Night Heron

By |2021-07-03T04:16:54-06:00August 22nd, 2010|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Ghost Crabs, Pinellas County, Yellow-crowned Night Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

It didn't take long for the Yellow-crowned Night Heron to grab the crab and send the sand flying.

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