Yellow-crowned Night Heron with crayfish, Maskunky Marsh, Iowa
Encouraged by the reports from other birders on the IA-BIRD Google group website, I made a three hour trip to Mahaska County, in particular to Maskunky Marsh, a wetland area east of Oskaloosa, Iowa on Saturday morning. Driving down in some rain made me doubt if this was a good idea but all was good at my arrival at the marsh. Within a few minutes I saw the first Yellow-crowned Night Heron. What a beautiful bird, and it was a lifer for me! I knew from the birder website that there were several more in the area but I saw only two.
I was amazed by the amount of crayfish the Yellow-crowned Night Heron can eat. The photo’s metadata show that the bird I watched ate nine crawdads within an hour and fifteen minutes. After they pick one up in the water or mud, they chew on them until most of the legs and claws are gone, and then swallow them as a whole.
Almost all shots were made from the tripod, trying to tell the story about the heron’s feeding habits. The relative large eye and the contrast on the bird’s head seem to make obtaining focus easy, but this was not always the case. The overcast gave the water some not so pretty glare and a little heat shimmer above the water surface seemed to play a role as well. However, my autofocus was thrown off more often than I expected. Well, none of this will stop me to rave about my first sighting of the not so common Yellow-crowned Night Heron!
All photos: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head