Iowa Birds

Iowa is home to an impressive number of bird species - from seasonal migrants to species that make Iowa their home year round. Bird watching is a wonderful hobby enjoyed by many Iowans young and old! Birds are interesting and abundant making them wonderful wildlife to observe and study with children.

Creature Feature – Yellow-Crowned Night-Heron

(Nyctanassa violacea)

Yellow-crowned night-herons are nocturnal herons of southern swamps and coasts. These elusive birds can be found along Iowa’s rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, and wetlands during the summer breeding season.  They start arriving in Iowa in March and will leave for warmer southern climes in August.

Yellow-crowned night-herons are medium-sized herons averaging 22-28 inches long. They have gray bodies with yellow legs. Their face and bill are black with white cheeks. They have a yellowish “crown” stripe on the top of their head that gives them their name. Like other herons they hold their necks in an “S” formation during flight with their legs trailing straight out behind their body. Males and females look alike.

These solitary herons feed in lakes, rivers, and marshes. They eat crayfish, fish, frogs, and insects. They stand still or stalk their prey along the shoreline lunging and seizing their prey when they are within range. They swallow their prey whole. Yellow-crowned night-herons prefer to forage solitarily and keep a good distance from other feeding herons.

Although they are generally solitary birds, yellow-crowned night-herons typically nest in small colonies of several pairs or in large colonies of up to several hundred pairs. Nest colonies are near or over water in tall trees. Nest sites can remain in use for over twenty years with birds returning to the nest site every year.

Both male and female yellow-crowned night-herons build the nest. It is built on a horizontal limb away from the trunk of the tree and consists of large sticks gathered from dead trees. Nests can be 4 feet across by the time the pair has finished building, a task that often takes the pair over a week to complete.

Once the nest is built the female lays 2-6 pale blue-green eggs. Both the male and female incubate the eggs for 24-25 days. When the young hatch they are helpless and covered in pale gray down. The male and female both care for and feed the young regurgitated food. The chicks fledge, or leave the nest, at about 25 days old.

Like all wetland species they are vulnerable to habitat destruction. In addition, yellow-crowned night-herons are neotropical migrants (see below) and face habitat threats in their winter, summer, and migratory habitats.

Neotropical Migrants

There are 386 bird species on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act bird list. Many of the birds on this list are also listed as threatened or endangered. Neotropical migrants are particularly vulnerable to habitat destruction as they face a lack of habitat in their summer breeding grounds, their winter non-breeding grounds, as well as long their migration routes.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act Bird List

http://www.fws.gov/birdhabitat/Grants/NMBCA/Birdlist.shtm

North America Migration Flyways

http://birding.about.com/od/birdingbasics/ss/North-America-Migration-Flyways.htm

How Birds Migrate

http://birding.about.com/od/birdbehavior/a/How-Birds-Migrate.htm

Book List

Arnosky, J. 1993. Crinkleroot's 25 Birds Every Child Should Know. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.

Arnosky, J. 1992. Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing the Birds. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.

Bailey, D. 1992. Birds: How to Watch and Understand the Fascinating World of Birds. DK Publishing, Inc.

Boring, M. 1998. Bird, Nests, and Eggs. T&N Children's Publishing.

Burnie, D. 2004. Bird. DK Publishing, Inc.

Chu, Miyoko. 2007. Songbird Journeys: Four Seasons in the Lives of Migratory Birds. Walker & Company.

Davies, J. 2004. The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon. Houghton Mifflin Company.

DeGraaf, R.M. 1995. Neotropical Migratory Birds: Natural History, Distribution, and Population Change. Cornell University Press.

Faaborg, J.R. 2002. Saving Migrant Birds: Developing Strategies for the Future. University of Texas Press.

Fitcher, G.S. 1982. Birds of North America. Random House, Incorporated.

Gans, R, Mirocha, P. 1996. How Do Birds Find Their Way? HarperTrophy.

Hume, R. 1993. Birdwatching. Random House, Incorporated.

Johnson, A. 2005. Iowa Birds. Lone Pine Publishing.

Kavanagh, J. 2001. Iowa Birds. Waterford Press Ltd.

Knight, T. 2003. Marvelous Migrators. Heinemann.

Kress, S.W. 2001. Bird Life. Golden Guides from St. Martin's Press.

Peterson, R. T. and L. A. Peterson. 2010. Peterson Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Robbins, C.S. 2001. Birds of North America: A Guide to Field Identification. Golden Guides from St. Martin's Press.

Rylant, C. 2006. The Journey: Stories of Migration. Blue Sky Press.

Sibley, D. A. 2000. National Aububon Society: The Sibley Guide to Birds. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Stokes, D. and L. Stokes. 2010. The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Little, Brown & Company.

Tekiela, S. 2001. Birds of Iowa: Field Guide. Adventure Publications.

Weidensaul, S. and T. Taylor. 1998. Birds (Audubon Society First Field Guide Series). Scholastic, Inc.

For factsheets, activity sheets and MORE visit:

IDNR: Education – Classroom Resources (go to the Document Library at the bottom of the page for fact sheets and activity sheets!)

http://www.iowadnr.gov/Education/ForTeachers/ClassroomResources.aspx