[EBB Sightings] Yellow-Crowned Night Heron?

Alan:  I don't know the history of Yellow-crowned
Night Herons in California, but this indeed would be a
rare bird.  The middle of the baja peninsula and south
are the extent of it's "normal" winter range. I can't
recall a report on this species in the last several
years in the bay area. But then again, I don't
remember what I had for breakfast. 
Best,
Bob Power

>From Birds of North America:
Winter range.

Subtropical and tropical regions where climate permits
crab activity throughout year. In U.S., winters
primarily in s. Florida (Robertson and Woolfenden
1992) but also recorded in small numbers along
Atlantic Coast north to s. North Carolina, along Gulf
Coast from e. Louisiana to Alabama, and along e. Texas
coast. Winters in s. Baja California and in central
volcanic belt of Mexico (Howell and Webb 1995) and
into Central American and Caribbean breeding range,
but southern limit of winter range poorly known. 

--- Alan Howe  wrote:

> Greetings, all.
>    Yesterday (2/12/05), while enjoying the beautiful
> afternoon at Lake Merritt, I was pretty sure I saw a
> juvenile ellow-crowned night heron near a number of
> black-crowned on the northern-most island of the
> refuge area. Given the indication in Sibley's that
> they're not all that common around here, I'd like to
> be sure that's what I saw. 
>    Has anyone else seen this bird? Am I correct in
> vaguely remembering mention of a yellow-crowned by
> list members some time ago? 
>    There were plenty of the regulars on hand, too.
> More black-crowned than I've ever seen in one place,
> goldeneyes, scaups, ring-necked and ruddy ducks,
> canvassback, buffleheads, Canada geese and
> pied-billed, eared and horned grebes. There were
> also
> scads of double-crested cormorants roosting/nesting
> in
> the tall trees on the islands.
>    Speaking of ruddys, I've been interested to see
> that the ones I've seen at Merritt and Berkeley
> Aquatic Park in the last couple of weeks still show
> non-breeding plumage, while those at Lake Temescal a
> couple of weeks ago were resplendent in their
> breeding
> colors. Is this unusual?
>    Thanks for any confirmation or insights folks can
> give.
> Happy Valentine's Day.
> Alan Howe
> Oakland
>   
> 
> 
> 		
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