Yellow-Crowned Night-Heron (Nyctanassa violacea)


Group	Bitterns and Herons
Code	ABNGA13010
Order	Ciconiiformes
Family	Ardeidae
Author	(Linnaeus, 1758)
Rank	G5 (definitions)
Occurrence	SM (definitions)
Scale	C (definitions)

County List:


Western UP	none
Eastern UP	none
Northern LP	none
Southern LP	none

Rule:

Mixed Forested/Nonforested Landscapes

      (Bottomland Hardwoods (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
   adjacent to:
      (Pond or River)
   adjacent to:
      (Any Emergent Wetland or Lowland Brush)

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Habitat List:

Habitats	Regen	Sap	Pole	Sm Saw	Lg Saw	Uneven
Aspen	no	no	no	no	no	-
Paper Birch	no	no	no	no	no	-
Oak	no	no	no	no	no	no
Assorted Hardwoods	no	no	no	no	no	no
Northern Hardwoods	no	no	no	no	no	no
Spruce/Fir	no	no	no	no	no	no
Hemlock	no	no	no	no	no	no
Jack Pine	no	no	no	no	no	no
Red Pine	no	no	no	no	no	no
White Pine	no	no	no	no	no	no
Conifer Plantations	no	no	no	no	no	-
Mixed Upland Hardwoods	no	no	no	no	no	no
Mixed Northern Hardwoods	no	no	no	no	no	no
Mixed Upland Conifer	no	no	no	no	no	no
Mixed Pine	no	no	no	no	no	no
Swamp Hardwoods	no	no	no	no	no	no
Balsam Poplar & Swamp Aspen & Swamp Birch	no	no	no	no	no	no
Bottomland Hardwoods	no	no	no	YES	YES	YES
Tamarack	no	no	no	no	no	no
Northern White Cedar	no	no	no	no	no	no
Black Spruce	no	no	no	no	no	no
Mixed Lowland Hardwoods	no	no	no	no	no	no
Mixed Lowland Conifer	no	no	no	no	no	no
Non-Forested	Pond, River, Marsh 1, Marsh 2 (MARSH), Lowland Brush
Special Features	Riparian

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Literature:

Carpenter, T. W. 1991. Yellow-crowned Night-heron. Pages 533-534 In: R. Brewer, G. A. McPeek, and R. J. Adams, Jr. (eds.) The atlas of breeding birds of Michigan. Michigan State University Press, East Lansing. 594 pp.

Feeds primarily on crayfish and small fish which it captures in marshes, ponds, streams, and swamps located in or near wooded areas. The only habitat requirement for nesting seems to be the presence of a wooded area near a suitable feeding area.

Yellow-crowned Night-herons nested from 1978-1982 in Westland (Wayne Co) in an oak woodlot beside a small swamp which dried up in late summer. A nest near Monroe was located in a dead aspen in a grove of cottonwoods and aspens growing in a small marsh; two pairs were observed near here in 1983. A nest near the Rouge river was situated in a cracked willow in a predominantly beech-maple woods. The 1988 probable nest site in Wayne Co. was in the wooded floodplain bordering the Lower Rouge River.

DeGraaf, R. M. and D. D. Rudis. 1986. New England wildlife: habitat, natural history, and distribution. GTR NE-108. Broomall, PA:USDA, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 491 pp.

Habitat: Breeding: Islands in fresh and salt water, marshes, ponds, and wooded swamps where it nests in isolated groves of trees or bushes.

Kaufman, K. 1996. Lives of North American Birds. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. 675 pp.

Habitat: Cypress swamps, mangroves, bayous, streams. Commonly occurs in shallow tidal waters, also along lowland rivers, with trees or other heavy cover nearby. Seldom in open marshes. Nests in mangrove or cypress swamps, riverside groves, thickets near water. Sometimes nests in trees within suburbs or cities.

Diet: Includes many crustaceans. Specializes more than most herons. Feeds heavily on crustaceans, mainly crabs and crayfish, especially in coastal areas. Also some mollusks, frogs, insects, fish. On inland waters, diet may be more varied.

Nest: Site is usually in tree 30-40 feet above ground, but sometimes very close to ground or water in thickets, mangroves.