Yesterday, on my rainy walk around town, I came across a (possibly resident) Yellow-crowned Night Heron stalking worms on the muddy town field. In the midst of a flock of robins all poking at the ground was this tall gray bird behaving as if it were at the edge of a pond. It was pretty funny to see it standing stock still staring at a patch of mud and then darting down to grab a worm. I assume it was grabbing worms that were being flooded out of their tunnels, as I didn’t see anything else, like hordes of frogs or toads, that it could be eating. It criss-crossed the field a couple of times while I was walking by, but when I passed by again on the way home it was gone. I believe herons return to the same nesting grounds each year, so this is likely the same bird I saw over the creek two years ago and in the branches of a tree last summer. I had thought it was just migrating through, but other residents reported seeing a mating pair later in the season last year.
Seeing the heron was a nice treat as I haven’t been doing much purposeful birding lately, and haven’t added any new species to my lifelist since last summer. I have, however, updated the list with photos; they’re almost entirely public domain photos from government sites, which is a handy way to illustrate a page like mine. I’m hoping to add a few more new sightings later this spring when we take a trip to Hilton Head at the end of next month. Even if I don’t catch sight of the endangered Wood Stork, I hope to get another look at the warblers and shorebirds that I’ve still only seen once or twice before.