Prehistoric Looking Birds in Arverne
Story and Photos
By Theresa M Racine
All eyes up when you walk around the NYCHA complex on Beach 54th Street in Arverne. You just might see a bird flying overhead called a yellow-crowned night heron.
The adults are stocky and compact, with a thick neck, and a blocky black and white head with a yellow crown. The juveniles are brown with fine lighter streaking and spotting. They are known to nest in residential areas that are human dominated. The trees they nest in are oak and pine. Their nests are made up of mostly dead twigs and branches. They sometimes steal from other nests. They line the nest with leaves, vines and Spanish moss. Both females and males help make the nest. It takes about ten days. The same nest is used year to year. Also, these birds are monogamous and mate in mid-spring to early summer. Two to four eggs are laid.
Night herons are considered smart birds, because of how they lure their prey. These beautiful creatures were considered a threatened species in 1990 because of their limited restriction and limited range. In 1999, they were downgraded to an endangered species. For night heron adults, there is no actual predator. Juveniles can fall victim to hawks and eagles. The ones that haven’t been born yet aren’t so lucky either. A squirrel, a crow or even a raccoon might come to steal the egg and have it for dinner or lunch.
As for what night herons eat, they search for food from land to water. They can eat leeches, earthworms, insects, crayfish, clams, mussels, fish, amphibians, lizards, snakes, turtles, rodents, birds, and eggs.
If you’d like to learn more about these birds, search the Cornell Lab of Ornithology or just Google yellow-crowned night herons.
If you’d like to see them, just look way up into the trees or head over to the bay. You might see one or two finding food for their babies. As an added bonus to checking it off your birding list, if you see them, they are known to bring good luck and prosperity.
