A yellow-crowned night heron popped up at its usual spot on a bayou.
|
|
By the end of the day, we'd spotted 25 species of birds including some not often seen in Central Park, like a red-throated loon, the yellow-crowned night heron, and a summer tanager.
|
|
A yellow crowned night heron, a bird seldom spotted in Central Park just kind of hanging outPhoto: Ryan F. Mandelbaum"We designed it with the novice birder in mind," Martha Harbison, Network Content Editor for the National Audubon Society, told me.
|
|
The yellow-crowned night heron is found exclusively in the Americas, and its distribution depends closely on food (mainly crustaceans) availability.
|
|
The yellow- crowned night heron is a rather stocky wading bird, ranging from and from , the females being a little smaller than the males. The yellow-crowned night heron has a wingspan ranging from 101-112 cm.The neck, slim when extended, gives the bird a comically large head compared to its body, with a large and heavy bill.
|
|
The yellow-crowned night heron has no real competition for food. The adults have virtually no predators, but the nests are vulnerable to other animals. Both the eggs and the young are an appealing meal to American crows and some mammals such as raccoons. Crows are also known to harass adult yellow-crowned night heron out of their nest, or displace the eggs in order to use the nest themselves.
|
|
The yellow-crowned night heron is generally not considered a threatened species, as the population size is very large, its range is wide and it has a stable trend. Its status with the IUCN is of Least Concern, meaning no conservation action is required across the species’ range. However, this status changes in some specific geographic locations, such as Indiana, where the yellow-crowned night heron is considered endangered, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Kentucky where it is classified as Threatened, and Virginia, where it is classified as Special Concern. As such, some conservation measures are taken locally, but the conservation of the yellow-crowned night heron is usually simply included in broader projects, especially those that aim for wetland conservation.
|
|
Strongyloides ardeae is a parasitic roundworm infecting the small intestine of yellow-crowned night heron, Nyctanassa violacea, and eastern green heron, Butorides virescens. It was first described from Louisiana.
|
|
Like many other aspects of its life, the yellow-crowned night heron's breeding season depends closely on the emergence of crabs in the spring; the crab cycle itself depends on temperatures. As such, the breeding season of the yellow-crowned night heron varies geographically, typically between March and May. In some tropical locations, it can breed all year. It is still unclear exactly how, and for how long, the yellow-crowned night heron forms a mating pair.
|
|
The importance of the impact of such predation varies geographically, Virginia being the state where it matters the most. Human activities also constitute threats to the yellow-crowned night heron. In areas where the herons cohabit with people, they are often disturbed or shooed away from their nests if they get too close to human habitations. Loss of habitat is another major threat to the yellow-crowned night heron, with the wetlands they favor regressing continually.
|
|
Additionally, in some part of the Americas such as Louisiana and the Bahamas, the meat of the yellow-crowned night heron is considered a delicacy, leading to illegal hunting of the fledgling.
|
|
Immature yellow- crowned night heron The yellow-crowned night heron looks for shallow water to live in: marshes, wooded swamps, and lakeshores for inland populations, and thickets, mangroves and cliff-bound coasts for coastal populations. It can also be found in areas that don't always have enough water, but that get flooded on a regular basis. Its habitat is closely linked to that of the crustaceans that make for most of its diet, and it tolerates fresh water, brackish water and saltwater. Another important habitat factor is nesting sites.
|
|
Feeding on crayfish The yellow-crowned night heron eats mainly crustaceans (crabs and crayfish) as well as insects, some fish or worms. It can also feed on lizards, small rodents and small birds. The geographic location of the heron is closely related to the prey it may find, and the size and shape of its bill allows it to hunt for prey of specific size. The yellow-crowned night heron may forage any time of the day and night, although it prefers the night to feed the young.
|
|
The yellow-crowned night heron (Nyctanassa violacea), is one of two species of night herons found in the Americas, the other one being the black-crowned night heron. It is known as the "bihoreau violacé" in French and the "pedrete corona clara" in Spanish.
|
|
Like all herons, the yellow-crowned night heron flies with long, slow purposeful wing beats. It can be found gliding over water with its legs easily visible, extended straight below the tail, unlike the black- crowned night heron, whose legs can barely be seen in flight.
|
|
Socorro as seen from space. North is to the upper left corner. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), 14 of the islands' 16 generally accepted resident taxa of landbirdsIncluding one waterbird, the local yellow-crowned night heron subspecies. as well as one seabird are endemic, as are all of the islands' native terrestrial vertebrates.
|
|
A small island and water fowl wildlife refuge in the Wabash near Mount Carmel, Illinois The Wabash River supports an abundant and diverse wildlife population. At least 150 species of birds have been sighted around the river. The waterfowl are most dependent on the river. Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned night heron, and merlin inhabit the area.
|
|
Like many other species of birds, the yellow-crowned night heron is an intermediate host and amplifier of the eastern equine encephalomyelitis (EEE) virus (sleeping sickness). This common virus in the Southeast of the United States is lethal to horses and can be to humans as well. It is transmitted by mosquitoes: an infected mosquito will transmit the virus to a yellow-crowned night heron, which will be unaffected by it but will host it (the heron is known as a “reservoir host” for the virus) until another mosquito picks it up from the heron and transmits it to a horse or a human. Because of the long distances over which yellow-crowned night herons travel during migration, they can carry the virus over larger geographical areas, becoming amplifiers of EEE.
|
|
The specialization of the bill and the hind limbs showed that it was apparently adapted to the feeding on land crabs. There are also early historian reports referring to that species. It possibly became extinct due to the settlement of the Bermuda islands in the 17th century. On Bermuda the aforementioned yellow-crowned night heron has been introduced to act as its equivalent in the ecosystem.
|
|
The yellow-crowned night heron needs bushes or trees to build nests, although it will use rock ledges where vegetation is unavailable (for example, on cliffs). Unlike the black-crowned night heron, the yellow-crowned does not mind living near humans and can be found in wooded neighborhoods, nesting on rooftops and driveways. Such cohabitation may not go smoothly and can create conflicts with humans.
|
|
From 1925 to 1960, the yellow-crowned night heron spread northward for reasons still not clear. Today, in addition to its winter and year-round range, it can be found in the south-east inland of the United States during breeding season and additional isolated breeding colonies have been recorded even farther inland, all the way to the northern border of the United States.
|
|
The immature birds will roost with the adults until the end of the breeding season, after which they disperse to unknown destinations. They will not be seen on the breeding grounds until they have acquired their adult plumage (two or three years later), and little is known about their ecology during this time. This mystery is actually a research priority about the yellow-crowned night heron.
|
|
It is an important breeding area for the endangered wood stork and other wetland birds. It also has wintering passerines, including the painted bunting. Numerous wading bird species can be found in the wetlands of the sanctuary, including the yellow-crowned night heron, black-crowned night heron, tricolored heron, great egret, and snowy egret. Specialist birds include limpkin, barred owl and, in summer, swallow- tailed kite.
|
|
Nesting yellow-crowned night herons with nestlings The yellow-crowned night heron typically has one brood per year. It will try and replace a brood completely lost if it is not too late into the breeding season, but not a partially lost brood. The female lays two to six eggs, depending on the conditions, especially the temperature. The eggs are oval and smooth, with a pale green-blue color.
|
|
Different subspecies and populations have different migratory behaviour. Subspecies and populations that are insular or live in warmer areas are confirmed to be sedentary. The tropical subspecies and populations migrate, but to an extent that is still unclear for lack of data. The migratory behaviour of the yellow-crowned night heron has changed with its expansion north: one subspecies (Nyctanassa violacea violacea) migrates to the northern limits of its range, moving north and west after breeding.
|
|
The sanctuary protects 148 species of birds, being some of them the yellow-crowned night heron, the rufous-necked wood rail, the American yellow warbler and the American white ibis. The sanctuary also protects 105 fish species, plus some other 40 migrant species. Mammals found in the area include the crab-eating raccoon, the silky anteater and the neotropical otter. Also, 33 snail species, 34 crustacean species, 24 bivalve species and 9 reptile species are found in the sanctuary.
|
|
The Bermuda night heron (Nyctanassa carcinocatactes) is an extinct heron species from Bermuda. It is sometimes assigned to the genus Nycticorax. It was first described in 2006 by Storrs L. Olson and David B. Wingate from subfossil material found in the Pleistocene and Holocene deposits in caves and ponds of Bermuda. Its anatomy was rather similar to its living relative, the yellow- crowned night heron (Nyctanassa violacea), but it had a heavier bill, a more massive skull and more robust hind limbs.
|
|
Significant avifauna reported in the reserve are the great blue heron (Ardea herodias), yellow-crowned night heron (Nyctanassa violacea), snowy egret (Egretta thula), mallard (Anas platyrhynchus), belted kingfisher, Megaceryle alcyon and northern waterthrush (Parkesia noveboracensis), which are all wintering bird species. Feral pigeons, which are displacing tropic birds from their nesting sites in cliff-holes and ledges, need to be eliminated from the reserve to preserve the native species of birds, according to efforts made to control their population thus far.
|
|
Adult N. v. ssp. pauper, North Seymour Island, Galapagos Islands Being a heron, the yellow-crowned night heron is related to egrets and bitterns (the family Ardeidae), and, to a further extent, to pelicans and ibises (the order Pelecaniformes). The night herons are usually considered to have separated from the day herons (such as the great blue heron or the green heron). Various classifications recognize five subspecies, but little is known as to how much they are integrated together and how much their geographic range varies.
|
|
It takes about three years for yellow-crowned night herons to acquire the full physical appearance of adults. Before that, the young birds show signs of immaturity such as a brownish body, an overall greyish head, drab colors and spots and streaks on their plumage. Although the adults are easy to tell apart, juvenile yellow-crowned night heron can look very similar to juvenile black-crowned night heron. Yellow-crowned juveniles tend to stand straighter and have heavier bills and longer legs, and their spots and streaks are finer than those of the black-crowned.
|
|
The yellow-crowned night heron was introduced in the Bermudas in the end of the 1970s as a means of biological control against land crabs, which were considered a pest as were digging holes in the golf courses and the population went out of control after the closely related Bermuda night heron went extinct in the 1600s. As yellow- crowned night herons are opportunistic feeders, not specialist feeders like the Bermuda night heron which have since decimated native land crab populations and have been observed predating endemic and critically endangered Bermuda skinks.
|
|
A alt=A white heron with grey legs and a yellow/orange bill standing in green grasses throwing a lizard with its bill The herons and bitterns are carnivorous. The members of this family are mostly associated with wetlands and water, and feed on a variety of live aquatic prey. Their diet includes a wide variety of aquatic animals, including fish, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, molluscs, and aquatic insects. Individual species may be generalists or specialise in certain prey types, such as the yellow-crowned night heron, which specialises in crustaceans, particularly crabs.
|
|
Ardeidaes rest in salty ponds (snowy egret, green heron, western cattle egret, yellow-crowned night heron, tricolored heron, etc.) and living with the aquatic turtles, the common moorhen, the blue land crab, the blackback land crab, the sand fiddler crab and other species of crabs. The common kestrel is visible and audible during rides into the dry forest, like the zenaida dove, an endemic species of West Indies protected inside the archipelago. Frogs include the Eleutherodactylus pinchoni, among others. Tree bats feed on papayas and other fruits and berries.
|
|
The rivers have many fish and aquatic reptiles. Endangered reptiles include green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) and Maranhão slider (Trachemys adiutrix). Yellow-rumped cacique (Cacicus cela) in the Parque Ambiental Adhemar Monteiro in Paragominas 517 species of birds have been recorded, including two species of heron that are uncommon in other parts of the Amazon region, tricolored heron (Egretta tricolor) and yellow-crowned night heron (Nyctanassa violacea). Other birds include toucans (genus Ramphastos), red-throated piping guan (Pipile cujubi), white-crested guan (Penelope pileata), parrots, parakeets and many migrant birds from the Nearctic realm.
|
|
Unofficially, the BioBlitz counted 1,815 species. The BioBlitz included teams of scientists from Eastern Illinois University, Field Museum, Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Illinois Natural History Survey, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, University of Illinois - Champaign, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S. Fish & Wildlife. Lake sturgeon, endangered in both Indiana and Illinois, as well as banded killifish, threatened in Illinois, are both part of the Wolf Lake ecology. The lake supports the nesting habitat for four species of endangered birds: little blue heron, yellow-crowned night heron, black-crowned night heron, and yellow-headed blackbird.
|
|
Great blue heron McCormick Island regularly supports thousands of waterfowl during the migratory season, such as the common loon, horned grebe, red-breasted merganser, lesser scaup, and bufflehead. McCormick Island also represents the highest concentration of wading birds in Pennsylvania during the breeding season including the great egret, yellow-crowned night-heron and black-crowned night-heron. The island also provides important breeding habitat for the black-crowned night-heron, which is classified as a candidate- at risk species in Pennsylvania and under consideration for Pennsylvania endangered species status. Thus McCormick Island is declared an Important Bird Area (IBA) by The National Audubon Society.
|
|
Just north of downtown Houston, around White Oak Park, the banks of White Oak Bayou have been cleaned and a swampy area restored where birdwatching can be enjoyed. Yellow-crowned night heron and green heron nest there, and a number of eastern woodland birds also reside in and around the park. In addition, the White Oak Bayou Association, a non- profit organization dedicated to the preservation, restoration, and maintenance of wildlife habitats along the bayou, has been established as part of the Citizens' Environmental Coalition. Also along the bayou, between 18th and 11th Streets, is a grove of trees that have been planted by Trees For Houston.
|
|
The lake and neighboring wetlands provide nesting sites for the endangered black-crowned night heron, little blue heron, yellow-crowned night heron and yellow-headed blackbird. Native Trumpeter (Cygnus buccinator) and Tundra swans (Cygnus columbianus) and non- native Mute swans (Cygnus olor) may all be found on the lake in winter. Tundra swans are absent in summer as they migrate to the arctic and subarctic to nest, however, the non-native, Eurasian Mute swans, which stay in the area year round, compete for habitat with the non-migrating Trumpeter swan population and is an impediment to restoration of the native trumpeters around the Great Lakes.
|
|
Additionally, another lichen species, Xanthoria parietina, was identified here and was the most western location the species had been identified, as its distribution is typically eastern United States. In 2010, during another botanical survey of the park by the Missouri Native Plant Society, Trifolium carolinianum was found here, once thought to have been extirpated in Missouri since the 1930s. A variety of birds have been observed nesting in the park including prothonotary warbler, bluebird, Cooper's hawk, red-shouldered hawk, American robin, mourning dove, black- capped chickadee, eastern phoebe, red-headed woodpecker, Canada goose, yellow- crowned night heron, indigo bunting, and cliff swallow, among others. In 2011, an American bald eagle attempted to nest at the park but was unsuccessful and relocated to an unknown location.
|
|
Hosts recorded in the wild include the least bittern (Ixobrychus exilis), roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja), great blue heron (Ardea herodias), striated heron (Butorides striatus), stripe- backed bittern (Ixobrychus involucris), yellow-crowned night heron (Nyctanassa violacea), black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), osprey (Pandion haliaetus), Neotropic cormorant (Phalacrocorax brasilianus), and marsh rice rat (Oryzomys palustris). In the marsh rice rat, it infected 9% of rats examined in a 1970–1972 study in the salt marsh at Cedar Key, Florida, but none in a freshwater marsh.Kinsella, 1988, table 1 A. pindoramensis has been experimentally introduced into the domestic duck (Anas platyrhynchos domestica), chicken (Gallus gallus domestica), dog (Canis lupus familiaris), house mouse (Mus musculus), and golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus). It occurs in various body parts of its intermediate hosts—the poeciliid fish Phalloptychus januarius, Poecilia catemaconis, Poecilia mexicana, Poecilia mollienisicola, Poecilia vivipara, and a species of Xiphophorus and the cichlid Tilapia.
|
|
The park's beaches are breeding areas where several endangered turtle species lay their eggs, including the olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea), green turtle (Chelonia mydas), leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), and hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata). Other reptiles found in the park are iguanas, and freshwater turtles. Over 90 bird species -both migratory and resident- have been reported, including a large nesting heron population (Ardeidae), cormorants (Phalacrocoracidae), pelicans (Pelecanidae), ibises (Threskiornithidae), plovers, dotterels, lapwings (Charadriidae) and gull species (Laridae). Bird species of special concern found in the park but which may be under threat in Guatemala, are: Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps), brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis), Great White Egret (Ardea alba), Snowy Egret (Egretta thula), Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor), Green Heron (Butorides virescens), Yellow-crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea), Boat-billed Heron (Cochlearius cochlearius), Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja), Wood Stork (Mycteria americana), Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus), and Least Tern (Sterna antillarum).
|
|