Last week, Ranger Kristin mentioned to me that she had again seen the immature Yellow-crowned Night-heron that was first discovered in the Wetlands on the stormy 27th on May. Night herons tend to spend most of the day sleeping away in the dense cover of trees or shrubbery, doing most of their foraging at night, so it’s reasonable that no one had seen it since then. We often only get brief glimpses of the diurnal foraging Green Heron as itRead more
Posts filed in: Birds
Juvenile Green Heron Works the Wetlands!
Several days ago I noticed a young Green Heron in the Wetlands. It was in juvenal plumage. When I first saw the bird it still had some downy feathers wildly protruding from its crown. It’s “do” has settled down some but it still maintains the sure signs of a recently fledged bird. We’ve had a Green Heron or two visit the Wetlands daily since mid April. Since early May I’ve seen one of these little herons fly off in the directionRead more
Big Bull succumbs to Big Blue
Last year around this time I saw a Great Blue Heron take a Bullfrog from the Wetlands. From capture to swallow, the whole process took approximately 13 minutes. On May 19 of this year the heron (or another just like it) took another big frog out of the water. This frog was dispatched in less than ten minutes. Just another day in the Wetlands.Read more
Yellow-crowned Stays Another Day!
I thought I’d go down to the Wetlands early (relatively early) to see if the night heron that showed up yesterday was still around. At first I thought that the bird had moved on, until I checked the secondary Wetlands Overlook (near the Lemurs). It had rained 3-5 inches the day before and there weren’t many exposed areas in the swamp for a night heron to hunt from, but the bird had found one on the back side of theRead more
Yellow-crowned Night Heron in Wetlands
A Yellow-crowned Night Heron was seen on the snag in the center of the Wetlands on Friday (5/27/11). To my knowledge this the first heron of this species seen at the Museum. It was probably on migration and was brought down by the severe thunderstorms of the day. A Black-crowned Night Heron in immature plumage was seen in the Wetlands in May of 2008 and was in the area for a couple of days. I would have gotten a photoRead more
BEKIs Make Big Splash in Wetlands!
The picture on the right is of the splash made by an adult male Belted Kingfisher as it dove into the water. The kingfisher was demonstrating to its young fledglings how to catch fish. I saw at least three kingfishers in the Wetlands on Wednesday (5/18). The next day it was reported that there were five of them there. Two of those were adults, the rest were the young of the year. The appearance of the kingfishers with their youngRead more
Bald Eagles
On Saturday May 14 three Bald Eagles soared over the Museum headed north. The birds were seen by all three Rangers on duty that day (Kristin, Sara, and me). All three eagles were sub-adults from a previous year as there was molt in progress on at least two of them. Keep looking up! Sorry, no photos.Read more
Spotted Sandpiper
A Spotted Sandpiper stopped in at the Museum on Saturday (4/7/11). We don’t often see shorebirds at the Museum, so whenever one does show up it’s worth mentioning. Spotted Sandpipers are one of four species I would expect to see here. The other three shorebirds likely to be seen are Solitary Sandpiper, Killdeer, and Least Sandpiper. All but the latter have been seen. I’m waiting patiently for the Least Sandpipers to arrive!Read more
Bluebirds Doing Well!
Ken Kernodle, one of several people that installed nest boxes for bluebirds here at the Museum last year, stopped by yesterday to inspect the boxes. As we walked up to the nest box in Catch the Wind next to the Flap the Wings exhibit a male bluebird flew in with a juicy worm in its bill. Of the five nest boxes on the Museum campus, four are occupied. Three boxes hold bluebirds with 4-5 nestlings each. One nest box containsRead more