They're back. And so am I watching them.
This evening I stopped to chat with Tom and Jeanne at a place Yellow-Crowned Night Herons (YCNH) nested in prior years. Tom gave me a few tips about where he had sighted YCNHs and oh my goodness, I found them. It seemed like the birds were lit up with this-time-of-year fervor. On my way home, I passed Rene (and Toby) who said, "I heard the night-herons!"
YCNHs return to familiar Slash Pines in Wildewood and when they do, I observe them. This is a photo of one of four I saw courting between pines, loudly squawking and mewing as the sun set tonight (3/12/21). This marks the 4th year I've looked at them through my camera lens.
So, I recently found this beautiful 4 minute video. It inspires empathy by imagining we could stand in others' shoes to see life from their experience. The video also informs my bird-watching. Through information and imagination, I sense what it might be like to be a YCNH and sorta pretend I'm wearing their golden crown while standing in their dark pink "shoes."
What golden crown? This one. Both male and female have golden crowns. The female's crown has some darker mustard-colored yellow.
I looked up at the painted sky as I rounded the bend coming home and clicked my heels.
