Awinged visitor from the south is ruffling the feathers of Weld County’s bird watchers, who are atwitter over what they’re calling a once-in-a-lifetime event.
A yellow-crowned night heron, usually from the southeast, has given birth to chicks with a black-crowned night heron — only the third time that such hybrid chicks have been documented in nature anywhere.
On June 28 at Glenmere Park, Fort Collins resident Donna Feagans saw two hybrid chicks nesting with their yellow-crowned night heron mother while their black-crowned night heron father stood guard over the nest.
“It was really exciting to see something so different; the bird is probably the most unique bird I have ever seen,” said Feagans, a birder of 15 years. “My husband and I were expecting just to see the yellow heron, but we saw little white heads that we thought were eggs. We saw the mother regurgitating for her chicks.”
Nearly a month ago, the yellow-crowned night heron flew into Glenmere Park, accounting for only the fourth sighting in Weld in more than 100 years.
Experts assume the yellow-crowned heron is female because a black-crowned heron was seen giving the bird a stick. The male offering a female a gift is a sign of courtship.
President of the Colorado Birding Society Jerry Petrosky confirmed the hatchings.
“I drove 80 miles one way to see this yellow-crowned heron,” Petrosky said. “Seeing this bird is rare enough and to see these hybrid chicks is a once-in-a-lifetime sighting.”
According to an article by the Western Field Ornithologists, the first reported sighting of the hybrid was in 1951 near Prescott, Ariz., and the second was in Coronado, Calif., in 2007.
He said the young likely are sterile. In the previous two sightings of the hybrid chicks elsewhere, only one has been photographed, he said.
“For the birds to attempt to breed and actually succeed is awesome,” he said. “This is exciting for birders, and I expect they will spend a lot of money to see this bird and put money into the community.”
One of those birders, Gary Lefko of Nunn, said the yellow-crowned female was still on the nest as of Sunday, and he is suspecting she is protecting the chicks. Lefko spotted the black-crown night heron nesting at Glenmere Park on Wednesday.
Black-crowned
Yellow-crowned (the pics work if you click on them) They do for me, if not sorry.
The Tribune
