{"id":41656,"date":"2016-09-02T05:32:02","date_gmt":"2016-09-02T11:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=41656"},"modified":"2025-06-11T09:15:53","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T14:15:53","slug":"gulf-shore-yellow-crowned-night-heron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/09\/02\/gulf-shore-yellow-crowned-night-heron\/","title":{"rendered":"Gulf Shore Yellow-crowned Night Heron"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Yellow-crownedYellow-crowned Night Heron and morning solitude – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/400, ISO 250, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 80-400mm at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This image was taken in June of 2009 at the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park<\/span><\/a> and I’ve always liked it.<\/p>\n

It was so quiet on the beach that day, as I recall I was one of the only bird photographers there and I saw very few other people.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I sat on the sugar sand and photographed this night heron for about five minutes and enjoyed spending time with it alone.<\/p>\n

I knew at the time I would be leaving Florida and heading west so I savored every second that I spent watching the bird and hearing the waves push onto the shore of a place I held dear to my heart.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click 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":"

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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":148124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,25,704,2000,93],"tags":[4004,4039,5229,5132,9822,4077,627,626,3956,3957,4000,4156,4017,4235,4018,2315,313,3996,95],"class_list":["post-41656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-yellow-crowned-night-heron","tag-adult","tag-beach","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-dune","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-night-heron","tag-night-herons","tag-nyctanassa-violacea","tag-resting","tag-sand","tag-sand-dunes","tag-sky","tag-summer-3","tag-wading-birds","tag-water","tag-yellow-crowned-night-heron"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-solitude-mia-mcpherson-6843.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-aPS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6048,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/09\/04\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-or-orange-eyed-day-heron\/","url_meta":{"origin":41656,"position":0},"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 "Birds"","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, 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Sequoyah NWR, and even more thrilled to photograph the night heron with a crawdad.","rel":"","context":"In "Crawdads"","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":396,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/08\/22\/hungry-heron\/","url_meta":{"origin":41656,"position":3},"title":"Hungry Yellow-crowned Night Heron","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It didn't take long for the Yellow-crowned Night Heron to grab the crab and send the sand flying.","rel":"","context":"In "Atlantic Ghost Crabs"","block_context":{"text":"Atlantic Ghost Crabs","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/ghost-crabs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron tearing up a Ghost Crab, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, 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Warmer Days","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning my mind drifted back to June of 2009, to a bright, warm day on the Gulf coast of Florida and a strolling Yellow-crowned Night Heron that I photographed as waves churned up behind it.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Strolling Yellow-crowned Night Heron, 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-beach-gulf-mia-mcpherson-4038.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-beach-gulf-mia-mcpherson-4038.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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