Re: [SBB] Heron and Egret Question PA Baylands

["Hintermeister Jan-AJH130" <[[email protected]]>]

 

In the early 1980s I was a just beginning birdwatcher, having signed up for Mr. Moffat's Ornithology class through Foothill College.  My favorite bird was the Black-Crowned Night-Heron, which seemed to me an elegant, regal and secretive bird.  I remember first seeing them in the small palms on the other side of the duck pond from the current heron colony.  One of our field trips took us to Lake Merritt.   Right out on the sidewalks of Oakland, I was horrified to see an elegant, regal and secretive Black-Crowned Night-Heron walking among a large flock of Oakland's human denizens, begging for food.  One of the humans tossed the BCNH a chicken bone, no meat, just the bone, and the heron happily gobbled it down. 

 

Jan Hintermeister

Santa Clara, CA

---

From: [[email protected]] [mailto:[[email protected]]] On Behalf Of [[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 7:04 AM
To: [[email protected]]
Subject: Re: [SBB] Heron and Egret Question PA Baylands

They are very common at the Newby Island landfill in Milpitas also.

 

--
Randy Little
Milpitas, CA

 

-------------- Original message --------------
From: Bill Bousman <[[email protected]]>

> Folks:
>
> Black-crowned Night-Herons are regular customers at the Palo Alto
> dump across from the Duck Pond. I guess that means they feed on human food.
>
> Bill
>
> At 03:29 PM 4/27/2007, [[email protected]] wrote:
> >Good afternoon all...
> >
> >I decided to take a quick run over to PA Baylands to collect some
> >Black-crowned Night Heron shells to show the difference in size
> >between Great Blue Heron shells for the Salute to Great Blue Heron
> >day tomorrow at Vasona....so while at the baylands I was watching
> >the Snowy Egrets, Black-crowned Night Herons and one Great Egret
> >when a Black-crowned chick caught my eye...it was making its way > >down the palm tree on the cut off palm fronds stumps....I knew it
> >was not a good idea for this chick to be that far out of its
> >nest....when all of a sudden it fell to the ground (did you hear me
> >scream?).... I was just so upset... I went over to the Ranger's
> >office and the Ranger on call was just a doll...he came over and
> >made a rescue of the chick....but while I was getting the Ranger
> >another chick fell out of the nest....by the time I got back to the
> >palm tree I could see the Crows pecking at that bird, it had
> >died. The Ranger was telling me that when they go to rescue a chick
> >usually all the adult birds fly up from the nest (or the trees) and
> >more chicks could fall to the ground. The Ranger entered the area
> >by the palm trees and up went Snowys, the one Great Egret and some
> >Black-crowned Night Herons....luckily no o! ther ch icks fell....The
> >ranger was telling me how aggressive the Snowy Egrets are.... and
> >that they will push other chicks out of the nests....
> >
> >The Ranger got the BCNH chick (about three weeks old) and while he
> >was taking him out of the net (and putting him in the container) the
> >chick regurgitated the contents of its stomach....amazing....there
> >was a hard bone (the size of a small rock, the Ranger thought it was
> >some type of fish bone) and then the heron brought up what we both
> >thought was the skin of a chicken (rather a large piece). Only
> >thing I could think of (and please help me here) was that the adult
> >BCNH got this from the one of the picnic areas where the bar-b-ques
> >would be ...someone may have dropped a piece of chicken and left it
> >and the heron picked it up. Would that be possible? I have seen
> >! ;pictur es of rehabbers feeding cut up chick to GBHEs...not
> >successfully... Can anyone tell me if they have seen or know of
> >egrets or herons eating human food?
> >
> >Okay, I am glad that the chick will be going to the Wildlife Center
> >of Silicon Valley...There is another chick in the bush right in
> >front of the palm trees....photogrpahers told me that it had been
> >there for days and that the parent comes to feed it! Didn't know
> >that herons and egrets feed young out of the nests? Any ideas on this?
> >
> >Okie dokie...enjoy this beautiful weekend....
> >
> >Good birding and my best regards,
> >Linda Sullivan
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >----------
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