25 August 2019
This month a rare bird showed up every evening, August 15 to 21, at an industrial park in Duquesne, PA. He was far outside his normal range but his travels were not surprising for a juvenile yellow-crowned night-heron.
Related to egrets and bitterns, yellow-crowned night-herons (Nyctanassa violacea) live near water and eat mostly crustaceans. Some live year round in Central and South America. Others breed in North America and migrate south for the winter as shown on the map below.
However, juvenile yellow-crowned night-herons are great wanderers. As Cornell Lab’s All About Birds explains, “After the breeding season, young birds often disperse to the north or west before heading to wintering grounds.” That’s how they end up in Newfoundland, North Dakota and Duquesne, PA.
At 4:00pm on Sunday August 18 I went to see him at the industrial park but he wasn’t there because (duh!) he’s a night-heron. So I went back at 7:20pm.
The bird had attracted a small crowd. Five of us watched him roam the sidewalks and grass beneath the pine trees at American Textile Company. He was completely unafraid of humans and walked right past two people standing on the sidewalk.
To give you an idea how close he came, here are photos from Oliver Lindheim (at top) and Amy Henrici, two of the many birders who’ve made the trek to Duquesne.
Yellow-crowned night-herons usually eat crabs and crayfish but will consume insects, amphibians, small mammals and even turtles when crustaceans aren’t abundant. This bird was attracted to Duquesne by a super-abundant large insect, the Brood VIII 17-year cicadas, Magicicada sp that emerged this summer.
As soon as the glut of 17-year cicadas is over he’ll be on his way.
NOTE: If you went to see the yellow-crowned night-heron and you use eBird, please mark his location as the new “Stakeout” Hotspot created specially for him called “stakeout, yellow-crowned night-heron at City Center, Duquesne, PA.
UPDATE 26 August 2019: This bird is gone. He didn’t show up on the evening of August 22.
That face! He looks like he means it.
I live where this species breeds in NJ and just thought that I’d add that I see them foraging in the day all the time. So don’t rule out daytime for sighting purposes. Interesting that it’s foraging for cicadas. Cool observation. I usually see them eating marine worms and small crabs.
I am in Jamaica. I also found this unusual visitor in my yard today, June 25, 2024 at 2:06 pm. I’ve never seen this bird before in my area.