{"id":6048,"date":"2012-09-04T05:30:11","date_gmt":"2012-09-04T11:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=6048"},"modified":"2025-06-11T09:09:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T14:09:11","slug":"yellow-crowned-night-heron-or-orange-eyed-day-heron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/09\/04\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-or-orange-eyed-day-heron\/","title":{"rendered":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron or Orange-eyed Day Heron?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Yellow-crownedYellow-crowned Night Heron – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/350, ISO 250, Nikkor 80-400mm at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite having “Night Heron” in their name Yellow-crowned Night Herons are not strictly denizens of the dark, they can and do stalk their prey during the daylight hours too. Usually they are as active during the day as they are at night. You can see one catch and stuff itself with a Ghost Crab here<\/a>\u00a0in broad daylight.<\/p>\n

The day I created the image above it had been raining just before I took the photo, the moisture laden air added vibrancy to the colors.<\/p>\n

\"AdultYellow-crowned Night Heron portrait – Nikon D200, handheld, f9, 1\/400, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This perched Yellow-crowned Night Heron was on a branch of a dead tree and allowed me to approach closely enough to\u00a0create this portrait that shows the fine detail in its salt and sand encrusted bill.<\/p>\n

I wonder why they didn’t name them Orange-eyed Day Herons. \ud83d\ude42<\/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":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":148115,"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":[4004,4039,4142,5229,5132,4077,627,626,3956,3957,4000,4046,4018,2315,313,3996,4119,95],"class_list":["post-6048","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-close-up","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-night-heron","tag-night-herons","tag-nyctanassa-violacea","tag-portrait","tag-sky","tag-summer-3","tag-wading-birds","tag-water","tag-waves","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-mia-mcpherson-7955.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1zy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":148091,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/06\/11\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-and-crawdads\/","url_meta":{"origin":6048,"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 "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":114019,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/06\/28\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":6048,"position":1},"title":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron At Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Until a few days ago, I hadn't photographed a single Yellow-crowned Night Heron in almost fourteen years. I photographed this one at Sequoyah NWR in Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron perched in a tree, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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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":2624,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/07\/02\/juvenile-yellow-crowned-night-heron\/","url_meta":{"origin":6048,"position":3},"title":"Juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"This young Yellow-crowned Night Heron moved very slowly and it seemed to do that deliberately.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Yellow-crowned Night Heron with a crab, 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-juvenile-crab-florida-mia-mcpherson-4572.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-juvenile-crab-florida-mia-mcpherson-4572.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","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":44304,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/01\/10\/strolling-yellow-crowned-night-heron\/","url_meta":{"origin":6048,"position":5},"title":"Strolling Yellow-crowned Night Heron – Thinking Back on Brighter, 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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