Nesting Yellow-crowned Night Herons

A few days ago I mentioned that I had found a nest of Yellow-crowned Night Herons, (Nyctanassa violacea), in a residential neighborhood near here. We went there and I was able to capture a few pictures. The first one shows the mother on the nest.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron – adult on nest

In this second photo, if you look closely, you can see the tiny chicks peeking through the twigs. Click the photos to enlarge.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron – adult on nest

The nest was about 20 feet off of the ground and I was about another 30 feet away, so I was photographing at an upward angle. Hopefully, in a few days the chicks will be larger so I can get better photos of them. They generally fledge in about 3-4 weeks and I assume that these chicks were probably about a week old.

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19 thoughts on “Nesting Yellow-crowned Night Herons”

What a great nest find and wonderful shots! I hope you’re able to capture more photos of them in the next few weeks, Bob. The chicks look adorable…..with that hair, does sure look like their related somehow to boxing promoter Don King. LOL

Bob Zeller says:

May 27, 2012 at 8:08 pm

Thanks, Donna, I will be going back in a day or two and maybe they will be peeking over the edge a bit. 🙂

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Super shots Bob!!

Bob Zeller says:

May 24, 2012 at 1:08 pm

Thanks, David.

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- Bob Zeller says:
  
  May 24, 2012 at 1:09 pm
  
  Thanks, David
  
  Reply

Lovely photos, Bob. The chicks look like scruffy little characters!

Bob Zeller says:

May 24, 2012 at 1:09 pm

Thank you very much, Jo.

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Nice DOF to get both the birds and the nest sharp Bob. Sure wish we had this species around here.

Bob Zeller says:

May 23, 2012 at 5:58 pm

Thanks, Ron, I was shooting at around f11 at ISO 3200. Shutter speed was at about 1/640, and added +0.3EV. The first (top) photo was with my tripod-mounted 500mm. The second with my hand-held 100-400mm.

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