Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

The yellow-crowned night-heron is a small heron found in tropical climates in North,Central, and South America. They are primarily found in coastal wetland in Central and northern South America. In North America they breed in the south eastern United States and Mexico. Most of the U.S. population migrates down to Central America for the winter except for small populations in South Florida, South Louisiana, and South Texas that are resident year round. Once in a while one gets mixed up and ends up going further north then normal. A few years back we had a yellow-crown that was roosting in a black-crowned night-heron rookery for the summer. This pic was taken in Florida at the Ding Darling NWR last year.