A Crunchy Breakfast
A Yellow-crowned Night Heron has a Crayfish for Breakfast
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Yellow-crowned Night Heron eating a Crayfish
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This is a Yellow-crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa
violacea), which is found exclusively in the Americas, and its distribution
depends closely on food (mainly crustaceans) availability. Their diet
consists mostly of crustaceans (crabs and crayfish) and they are normally found
where the climate allows for year-round crab activity: tropical and subtropical
regions, south Florida, the Gulf Coast (Louisiana to Alabama), and the eastern
Texas coast. They are not normally found here in North Texas;
however, they're generally around in April and May, most likely for breeding.
For the most part, I've observed them in our neighborhood and they were in
abundance this year. I've seen as many as 5 at one time, and this year,
for the first time, I've seen a couple of juveniles.
When hunting crayfish, the heron stands at the entrance of the burrow, always facing the sun so its shadow is not cast over the entrance of the burrow, which would alert the crayfish. Once its prey is located, it lunges with its bill and, if it is a small prey, it swallows it whole. I caught this one on my way to work one day eating a crayfish. The heron tossed the crayfish around until it could get it positioned just right for swallowing and then, down it went. The slideshow is a 10 photo sequence of the event. Photo info. Click the slideshow icons at left to see the photos from the trip. The following equipment was used:
All images were shot Raw (7DMKII) and processed in Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® CC with occasional touch up in Adobe® Photoshop® CC. Additional photo data is provided below each photo in the slideshow. Enjoy the photos! All photos are Copyright © 2016 David W. Boston |
