Photo Essay: Notes on the Increasing Occurence of Yellow-Crowned Night-Herons (Nyctanassa violacea) in South-Central Kansas

Abstract

Until recently, Kansas was well to the northwest of the normal range of Yellowcrowned Night-Herons. My first Kansas sighting was on March 26, 2011. A single adult (Fig. 1) was observed in Crane Park, a small riparian woodland along Spring Creek in a residential neighborhood near the center of Derby, Kansas (Sedgwick County). The adult Night-Heron was foraging among dead leaves and was wary, but did not appear alarmed or fly away as I approached and took pictures.