If you sit still and watch these Yellow-crowned Night Herons forage they will literally walk right up to you and then pass you by. They tend to be so much bolder than most of the birds on the bayou. They will take other prey, but these characters seem to love the crabs that inhabit the waters. Photo taken on Horsepen Bayou.

Was on the water today and so will be a bit tardy with my comments, but I’ll get there.


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Tags:   WanaM3 Nikon D7100 Nikon D7100 Texas Pasadena Clear Lake City Horsepen Bayou bayou outdoors natrue wildlife canoeing paddling animal bird heron YCNH Yellow-crowned Night Heron

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Some of my contacts ask me to include more photos of the bayou and I will do that in this post. The first shot is of a Yellow-crowned Night Heron perched on a snag that is normally below the surface of the water. On is particular day the water level was unusually low for a late fall day. You will also see the reason why there are no shots of Egrets, both Great and Snowy in my most recent posts. The low tide had trapped numerous bait fish in the small pools in the flats and the egrets were enjoying their ready-made picnic dinner and were not bothered by that pesky photographer in his canoe. The final scene shows an old weathered root system of a tree that died many years ago when subsidence took its toll on the bayou. Normally these old snags would be lurking just below the surface waiting to catch the bottom of the canoe and surprise the paddler, but today all were clearly visible at low tide. The water was about 16 to 20 inches lower than normal for this time of the year.

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Tags:   WanaM3 Nikon D7100 Nikon D7100 Texas Pasadena Clear Lake City Horsepen Bayou bayou outdoors nature wildlife canoeing paddling low tide animal bird heron Yellow-crowned Night Heron

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Our Yellow-crowned Night Heron compliment on the bayou is at maximum strength and the crab population had better be on full alert. I’m not the most observant, but when I see this species fish, I never see them pull anything else from the water except crab…and they are VERY proficient hunters. Not only are they excellent hunters, but even without hands, they are capable of dismembering a crab quicker than you can say dismember. Once they make the catch, they prefer to eat in private...and not share. Photo taken on Horsepen Bayou.

DSL_1229uls

Tags:   WanaM3 Nikon D7100 Nikon D7100 Texas Pasadena Clear Lake City Horsepen Bayou bayou outdoors nature wildlife animal crab bird heron canoeing paddling Yellow-crowned Nigth Heron

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The Yellow-crowned Night Herons can be just as intense as the Green Herons and that was the case with this one foraging on Horsepen Bayou at low tide. A bit skittish but would walk toward the canoe until he would turn and walk away.

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Tags:   WanaM3 Nikon D7100 Nikon D7100 Texas Pasadena Horsepen Bayou Clear Lake City bayou outdoors nature wildlife canoeing paddling animal bird heron Yellow-crowned Night Heron

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He told me everything would be fine as long as I didn’t try to pet Cupcake!! He also told me not to try and measure how long he was. Okay!!! Enough of my silliness. This is one of our friendly Yellow-crowned Night Heron assuming the pose!!! Not quite sure what the pose is about, but it is the pose. I’ve seen a number of herons doing this during the heat of the day on the bayou and am not sure what they are doing. Photo taken on Horsepen Bayou.

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Tags:   WanaM3 Nikon D7100 Nikon D7100 Texas Pasadena Clear Lake City Horsepen Bayou bayou outdoors nature wildlife canoeing paddling animal bird heron Yellow-crowned Night Heron

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