{"id":114019,"date":"2023-06-28T01:20:11","date_gmt":"2023-06-28T07:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=114019"},"modified":"2023-07-03T08:55:03","modified_gmt":"2023-07-03T14:55:03","slug":"yellow-crowned-night-heron-at-sequoyah-nwr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/06\/28\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","title":{"rendered":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron At Sequoyah NWR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Until a few days ago, I hadn&#8217;t photographed a single Yellow-crowned Night Heron in almost fourteen years. I photographed this one at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fws.gov\/refuge\/sequoyah\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Sequoyah NWR<\/span><\/a> in Oklahoma. The last one I photographed was on July 5, 2009 at the north beach of Fort De Soto three days before I hit the road to move to Utah.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-114016 size-full\" title=\"Yellow-crowned Night Heron perched in a tree\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463.jpg\" alt=\"Yellow-crowned Night Heron perched in a tree, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Yellow-crowned Night Heron perched in a tree \u2013 Canon R7, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 12,800, Canon RF 100-500mm at 500m, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The day I photographed this night heron at the refuge there were two in the same area. I was so excited to see this wading bird species once again. I could wish this bird had been perched closer to me than what it was but I won&#8217;t. Also, I could wish that the light had been better than what it was so my ISO wouldn&#8217;t have been so high. The fact is, I was simply delighted to have this night heron in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n<p>In total I have seen three Yellow-crowned Night Herons at the refuge. Those three birds broke a dry spell for me with this species of night herons. I hope I don&#8217;t go fourteen years without seeing them again. Fingers crossed.<\/p>\n<div class=\"flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3\">\n<div class=\"min-h-[20px] flex items-start overflow-x-auto whitespace-pre-wrap break-words flex-col gap-4\">\n<div class=\"markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert light\">\n<p>The night heron species I see in northern Utah are the year-round resident Black-crowned Night Herons. I find them most often in the marshes surrounding the Great Salt Lake.<\/p>\n<p>This particular bird was found at a slough in Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, which is surrounded by river bottomland hardwood forests. The slough is not far from the Arkansas River.<\/p>\n<p>I have thoroughly enjoyed exploring Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, observing the various eastern bird species, photographing many of them, and appreciating the diverse wildlife in the area. Sharing it all with a dear friend?<\/p>\n<p>That is what is called priceless.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Life<em> is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Yellow-crowned Night Heron photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Until a few days ago, I hadn&#8217;t photographed a single Yellow-crowned Night Heron in almost fourteen years. I photographed this one at Sequoyah NWR in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":114016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,13973,13974,93],"tags":[4004,13985,13984,4897,627,626,6583,14047,3956,3957,4000,4104,2315,4427,95],"class_list":["post-114019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-oklahoma","category-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","category-yellow-crowned-night-heron","tag-adult","tag-bottomland-hardwood-forests","tag-bottomlands","tag-branch","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-leaves","tag-miners-cove","tag-night-heron","tag-night-herons","tag-nyctanassa-violacea","tag-perched","tag-summer-3","tag-tree","tag-yellow-crowned-night-heron"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-tF1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":148091,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/06\/11\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-and-crawdads\/","url_meta":{"origin":114019,"position":0},"title":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron And Crawdads","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I was thrilled to spot a Yellow-crowned Night Heron yesterday morning at Sequoyah NWR, and even more thrilled to photograph the night heron with a crawdad.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Crawdads&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Crawdads","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/crawdads\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron eating a crawdad,Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-crawdad-mia-mcpherson-9718.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-crawdad-mia-mcpherson-9718.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-crawdad-mia-mcpherson-9718.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-crawdad-mia-mcpherson-9718.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":156366,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/09\/17\/great-blue-heron-in-a-sycamore-from-a-distance\/","url_meta":{"origin":114019,"position":1},"title":"Great Blue Heron In A Sycamore: From A Distance","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I\u2019m sharing a photo of a Great Blue Heron perched in a sycamore over Sally Jones Lake at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron in a sycamore tree, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-blue-heron-sycamore-mia-mcpherson-8791.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-blue-heron-sycamore-mia-mcpherson-8791.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-blue-heron-sycamore-mia-mcpherson-8791.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/great-blue-heron-sycamore-mia-mcpherson-8791.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":131073,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/07\/23\/green-heron-images-from-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":114019,"position":2},"title":"Green Heron Images From Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 23, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I'm sharing three Green Heron photos plus a short video that were taken at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma earlier this month.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Green Heron about to lift off from a branch, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/green-heron-miners-cove-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9807.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/green-heron-miners-cove-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9807.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/green-heron-miners-cove-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9807.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/green-heron-miners-cove-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9807.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50480,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/04\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-in-low-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":114019,"position":3},"title":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron In Low Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The first bird I photographed that day was a Yellow-crowned Night Heron wandering in the sea fog near the dunes and shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron in low, silvery light, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-low-light-mia-mcpherson-5744.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-low-light-mia-mcpherson-5744.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-low-light-mia-mcpherson-5744.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":41656,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/09\/02\/gulf-shore-yellow-crowned-night-heron\/","url_meta":{"origin":114019,"position":4},"title":"Gulf Shore Yellow-crowned Night Heron","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I did see and photograph this adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron standing on a grassy sand dune overlooking the Gulf of Mexico in beautiful, soft light.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron and morning solitude, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-solitude-mia-mcpherson-6843.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-solitude-mia-mcpherson-6843.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-solitude-mia-mcpherson-6843.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-solitude-mia-mcpherson-6843.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6048,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/09\/04\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-or-orange-eyed-day-heron\/","url_meta":{"origin":114019,"position":5},"title":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron or Orange-eyed Day Heron?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Despite having \"Night Heron\" in their name Yellow-crowned Night Herons (Nyctanassa violacea) are not strictly denizens of the dark, they can and do stalk their prey during the daylight hours too.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron looking for breakfast, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-mia-mcpherson-7955.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-mia-mcpherson-7955.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-mia-mcpherson-7955.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-mia-mcpherson-7955.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}