Thursday, March 29, 2012
A friend of mine asked if I knew what the large birds are that are nesting on the University of the Incarnate Word campus. I have only been back to the campus a few times since I retired last May, so I stopped by on a Sunday afternoon a couple weeks ago to take a look.
What I found was a nesting pair of Yellow-crowned Night Herons and a third young adult heron. While these photos aren't from one of my regular walks, they are well within the theme of the blog and this is a good place to publish them.
This is also as good a place as any to point out that a large number of birds in Texas are protected under the Federal Migratory Bird Act, including the yellow-crowned night heron.
As anyone who has ever lived on a university campus will know, campus resident life is generally quite stressful. Having a camera repeatedly stuck in your face would quickly drive one crazy. I mention this to make the point that all of these photos were taken with a telephoto lens.
While these birds were aware of my presence and were at least somewhat curious about what I was doing, I was able to maintain a respectful, non-threatening distance from them. My understanding of the Migratory Bird Act is that it is unlawful to significantly disturb nesting birds covered by the Act. Please keep that in mind if and when you are in their presence.
