Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Elusive night heron becoming less elusive



We've heard about several recent sightings of the (formerly elusive) night heron in Tompkins Square Park of late… EVG regular Grant Shaffer took this photo last night, adding "it gobbled down a rat right in front of us — amazing!"

Or perhaps there is more than one night heron in the Park???

Anyway, the consensus among non-bird experts is that this is a yellow-crowned night heron … or a black-crowned night heron.

Whatever… it's crowned … it's a heron … and it has been eating rats in Tompkins Square Park.



Previously on EV Grieve:
The night heron apparently comes out at night in Tompkins Square Park

11 comments:

Laura Goggin Photography said...

Nice catch!

And dang it, I keep missing it!

Anonymous said...

It's great that you post about non-human fauna of NYC.

Anonymous said...

Jesus, it's a BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON for chrissakes!!

Anonymous said...

Eating rats? Waa?
Are you sure? I didn't think rats were on the menu for these guys. How would they catch them? they're not raptors.

sam_the_man said...

Man, the heron dealers are really becoming a problem in the park these days.

Thank you good night!

Eden Bee said...

It flew down right in front of me and I WAS SO SCARED.

Anonymous said...

11:47, I used that joke already on the last heron-related post. Unfortunately, it hasn't gotten any funnier since then.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 6:24, You can't improve on perfection!

zincink said...

Oooo beautiful bird :) •<

Griffin said...

The other night a group of people saw the heron with a mouse on top of its head...?! Does anyone know about that or take any pictures??

Unknown said...

Heron spotted in Washington Square Park eating rats July 19th midnight. Same one. Its apparently an easier meal than their daily commute from poaching frogs in the Meadowlands marshes