Yellow-crowned Night-Heron in Parsippany

(Click on the photo for a larger image.)

A juvenile Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (YCNH) was found under the Jefferson Road bridge at Jefferson Road Pond this afternoon by Julie Buechner. This is the second summer that YCNH is known to be at this location. One was found on September 9, 2013. It was soon joined by second YCNH, and later, a juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron. They stayed at the pond into the first week of November.

At least two adult-like Black-crowned Night-Herons are currently using the island in the pond for a roost in 2014.

Where are the YCNHs coming from? It is not known for certain whether the 2013 YCNHs were present before September. Regarding 2014, isn’t it early for post breeding dispersal? Is it possible YCNHs are nesting locally in the corporate park? Why haven’t we seen adult YCNHs? There is more to come.

(The photo above may look like flash was employed but no artificial lighting was used. The YCNH was under a bridge. It was simply a Canon EOS 7D with a 400mm f/5.6 lens, 2500 ISO, 5.6 aperture and 1/200 of a second shutter speed.)

Other field notes

Lincoln Park Gravel Pits has 4 Great Blue Herons, 2 Great Egrets, 2 Green Herons, 7 Killdeer and an Osprey (J. Klizas).

From Bob Auster:

“I saw 5 Bobolink at Duke Farms, yesterday, June 22, 2014, around 1:30 PM. I initially saw 2 males in the field past Farm Barn Lane and then a flock of 5 flew from that field to the field behind Farm Barn Orientation Center.”