Night heron sighting!!!

18 Sunday Jun 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, parks

Tags

birding, birdwatching, Black-crowned night heron, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Night heron, Nycticorax nycticorax, rare bird, rare bird sighting

We’re having a heatwave here in south Wales at the moment and, as I really don’t like the heat or the burning sun, I almost didn’t bother getting up early and going for a walk this morning. But I’m SO glad I did because, by sheer good luck, I spotted a relatively rare bird at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park.

170618 Night heron (2)

Typical me – at the time I didn’t realise it was rare. In fact, I couldn’t work out what it was. It was across the other side of the lake and, even with my 300mm lens, I couldn’t get a close-up (see above). Was it a juvenile cormorant? The shape looked wrong. Was it a juvenile heron (there were three other Grey herons on the water near by)? The colour looked cream, rather than light grey, and the eye looked wrong.

So, I took 7 photos and continued my walk. Once home and showered and cooled down, I went through my pics, cropped them hard and posted them on my bird group page on Facebook. Result! It’s a Night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) and is a fairly uncommon migrant in Britain, with usually less than twenty records per annum. It’s caused a bit of excitement amongst local birders though, unfortunately, those who’ve looked for it this afternoon haven’t managed to see it. Needless to say, I’m rather chuffed at my sighting!

Oh, and sorry about my rubbish photos. Luckily this is a bird I’ve seen before, overseas, so you can see some better images here.

Black-crowned night heron

13 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity, birding, birds, birdwatching, Black-crowned night heron, heron, Kuala Lumpur Bird Park, Lincoln Park, Nycticorax nycticorax

For this week’s World Wildlife Wednesday we have a bird that can be found almost everywhere in the world (though it’s neither partial to the cold nor to Australasia), and my images go some way to showing that.

160413 Black crowned night heron cambo ACCB

My first photo of the Black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) was taken at the Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity (ACCB) not far from Siem Reap in Cambodia. Like so many species of wildlife in poverty-stricken Cambodia, this heron is considered by many locals to be a food item, and hunting has dramatically reduced its numbers. The ACCB operates a captive breeding programme that aims to rebuild the local population.

160413 black crowned night heron chicago

My second set of photos was taken in Chicago and shows immature night herons roosting in the trees in Lincoln Park, just north of the city centre. Due mainly to habitat loss, these herons are endangered in Illinois, so the Chicago Parks, Lincoln Park Zoo and Department of Natural Resources are working together to encourage and support the 400-odd birds that breed in Lincoln Park each year.

160413 black crowned night heron kl

The location of my third photo is the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park in Malaysia. According to the Malaysian Birds website, the Black-crowned night heron is faring rather better in Malaysia, where the bird is widespread and the populations in local heronries frequently number in the hundreds.