Sightings May 26 Night-Heron nest

Every moment spent out and about in New Orleans, is a moment when you can see a cool bird.  Today I was walking on Madrid from my car to the Greek Fest, and noticed some white wash on the road as I passed below a large live oak.  I looked overhead, and sure enough, about forty feet up there was an adult Yellow-crowned Night-Heron standing next to its nest!  These crazy birds nest above a number of streets in New Orleans, because of our tradition of planting live oaks (their favored nesting tree) along sidewalks, and allowing them to extend their canopy over the road.  The nests are dishevelled looking affairs, that look to small for a bird of that size.

You can find more about Yellow-crowned Night-Herons on p. 22 of Birding Made Easy- New Orleans, including a list of some of the larger colony locations in the city- great places to visit.

This particular heron site was also host to a Mississippi Kite, a common nesting raptor in residential New Orleans.  It was circling low over the neighborhood, probably not far from a nest in a tall tree in the vicinity.

Good birding,

Peter