Hi Folks,

 

Chris Betrus wrote to me the other day to ask for directions to the Yellow-crowned Night Herons that reside here in Columbus, and it dawned on me that I hadn't actually been over to see them myself in spite of living here for over a year now.  So I took some time after work to drive up and see them.

 

The weather turned gorgeous around 4:30 or so here, which was nice.  It had been gray and overcast for much of the day.  Since the sun decided to make an appearance the light was perfect for taking some photographs so I took my camera along, just in case. (you can see 19 un-edited photos at the following web-site)-( http://caseybirdphotos.blogspot.com/ )  

 

I didn't know what to expect or how hard the birds would be to find.  I had heard that the birds literally nested over the street of this local community (near Bexley--a "suburb" of Columbus), but with the trees beginning to leaf out I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find the birds on the nest.  It's definitely not the kind of place where you'd expect to find Yellow-crowned Night Herons....but the birds do have good taste in locations (it was a very nice, ritzy neighborhood w/ beautiful old, expensive houses and a gorgeous tree-lined street).

 

I found the street that they are being seen on and began to slowly drive down the street.  Luckily, it's not a super busy street.  I drove the street until I noticed a hawk-sized bird sitting on a branch.  I pulled over and got out and realized that it was one of the herons, and it was standing next to a nest.  As I was getting my scope & camera out of the car another heron flew over my head (that's two).  I began to take a few photos of the heron on the branch, when a couple of neighborhood residents who were out for a stroll pointed out the second nest, where a third bird was already exhibiting incubation behavior (I'm assuming there are eggs in that nest).  After awhile another couple pulled up who had heard about the birds while they were at work and wanted to see them.  As we all watched the birds, and I photographed, we got another treat.  A sharp-shinned hawk flew in and landed on a branch, where she was harrassed by a squirrel.  The sharp-shinned hawk was almost as close as the herons were, but I wasn't able to get a photo before she flew off to a nearby evergreen....where she was joined by a second sharp-shinned hawk.  The second hawk brought her a little nuptial gift (i.e. snack) and then they copulated for a short bit before he flew off and she proceeded to eat whatever it was that he brought.

 

After everyone had left I was able to take some more photos of the heron and was able to capture some nest-building behavior.  Each time the heron would bring in a stick and arrange it in the nest it would turn around towards the direction of where the second bird had flown when I first arrived.  Once it faced that direction it would do a short tail ruffle and make soft gurgling sound as a means of attracting that bird in to check out the nest.

 

Yellow-crowned Night Heron was a life bird for me, and next to the King Rail from last year, this was the second easiest life bird I think I've ever seen.

 

Definitely a beautiful bird to see.

 

Enjoy & Happy Birding!

 

Casey