Tag: Heron

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

On By Mike and Christy2 Comments

A dapper Yellow-crowned Night Heron along the edge of a costal marsh patiently waiting for their next meal (preferentially crab) to appear. These wonderful birds breed in coastal and inland lowlands, wooded swamps, mangroves, and lagoons. Feeding and foraging areas almost always are associated with high concentrations of crustaceans, their food of choice.

This bird preening which is a common behavior after foraging and feeding. Full adult plumage like that in birds we photographed this day may take 3-4 years to develop. Along the way Yellow-Crowned Night Herons may display 4-5 distinct plumages.

Juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron foraging in brackish waters.

Reference:

Watts, B. D. (2020). Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (Nyctanassa violacea), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.ycnher.01

Bare-throated Tiger-Heron

On By Mike and Christy6 Comments

The Bare-throated Tiger Heron is a medium sized heron common to Central America. They are somewhat bulky and shaped a bit like a night-heron or Bittern with distinct baring and rufous on their breast.

This individual was displaying a behavior that indeed reminded us of the American Bittern.

The Bare-throated Tiger Heron forages along costal zones, brackish water and in inland marshes and swamps feeding mainly eating fish, frogs and crustaceans but has been known to consume small rodents.

Like many other Herons the bare-throated Tiger Heron hunts by remaining motionless and quickly striking when prey appears.

Reference:

Martínez-Vilalta, A., A. Motis, and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Bare-throated Tiger-Heron (Tigrisoma mexicanum), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.btther1.01