Would more likely be an early morning predator in the eyes of the local crab population but this was my first encounter on the bayou. Even though we see the pesky water hyacinth in this scene, I don’t think that they’ll be a problem but only time will tell. Yellow crowned Night Heron foraging on Armand Bayou.


Just wondering if anyone is having issues with the comment boxes. My comments do not get posted unless I refresh after every post. Very frustrating. I'll return tomorrow and hope that Flickr is working better.

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Just checking out to ailerons to make sure all is in order before launch. I guess those should be called primaries since it’s a bird and not an aircraft. A Yellow-crowned Night Heron does a bit of preening before ducking behind that limb and hiding from me as I approach. They are usually cooperative, but this one didn’t place a lot of trust in my presence. Photo taken on Horsepen Bayou.

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Some of the Armand Bayou residents are still trying to wake up on the bayou as the sun tries to rise above the trees bordering water’s edge. This Yellow-crowned Night Heron was trying to determine if the clown in the canoe was a threat or merely an observer.

I might add that the high temp for today is predicted to be 93°. 7° doesn’t sound like much, but it makes a huge difference and also drops the heat index down a bit.

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Add in a bit of pesky hyacinth and the scene would look much different, but this is where he lives and hunts even if the background isn’t ideal. I may clone out an occasional bottle or piece of plastic, but the scenes you see are exactly as I see them when I make the capture and the reeds are a part of it. The area is also subject to some dramatic tidal changes at time which change the water depths quite dramatically. This is another early morning capture of a Yellow-crowned Night Heron on Armand Bayou. He did a lot of stalking but made no strikes while I was observing him.

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I captured this particular Yellow-crowned Night Heron in the wee hours of the morning before sunrise and when there was very little light available. I realize it’s another heron capture, but this shot will give everyone a good look at the iris and the pupil when there is very little light to be had and the pupil is wide open. Not much of the colored pupil is visible as he searches in the darkness for his next meal. Most of their hunting is done in the early morning and late evening and during the nighttime hours. They are an opportunistic feeder and have seen them catch frogs as they wander through our neighborhood at night. When I see them on the bayou they are mainly after the blue crab that they are so very fond of. I’ve debated a long time whether or not to post this photo, but it tells the story about the eye and just how much more light is being let in at dusk and dawn. I might add that I have seen them foraging at midday as well and that’s especially true when they are feeding their young. The ones that forage in the drainage canals here in the neighborhood prefer the crayfish as food.

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