Sat 18 Jul 2009
Around 12:30 p.m. today, I found an adult Yellow-crowned Night-heron at Sugar River FP in northwest Winnebago Co. The bird was in the swamp which is inside the one-way loop road in the river bottom forest. I watched it catch and eat a crayfish. I don’t know if any YCNH have been seen there since Memorial Day weekend–at least, I haven’t seen any posts. If anyone goes there and sees one or more, particularly if you see immatures, please post those sightings. Thanks.
Phil Schwab and I were stationed at Nygren wetland this morning for the Wildflower Weekend. Although the birdlife seemed sparse, species-wise, there were a few highlights: An American Bittern flew over at a distance, and kept going, over the observation deck and toward the north. A Bald Eagle was over the Pec River to the SE, a pair of juvenile Pied-billed Grebes was in view most of the morning, and a single Solitary Sandpiper was out on a small mud flat.
August 17th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
For some reason I’m having problems attempting to post on this website??? However, I saw 2 adult YCNHs on Saturday, Aug. 15th prior to putting up the nets at SBBO. Then on Sunday I returned to Sugar River, saw one adult and then found a juvenile YCNH feeding in the larger pond on the southern most side. This young bird stayed close to the trees for cover and never once flew up or went out into the larger more open area of the pond/marsh. I took several pictures of this bird and they are located on my Flickr account, an example can be found by going to this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mesquakie8/3827616318/