Ireland's first Yellow-crowned Night Heron draws crowds to rural village

The extraordinary appearance of Ireland's first Yellow-crowned Night Heron has drawn crowds to an unsuspecting Co Mayo village.

The bird, in adult plumage, was found well inland at Belcarra in Co Mayo on 26 May. It is the 13th record of the North American species in the Western Palearctic.

Irish birder Jim Fitzharris, whose friend found the heron, takes up the story: "Late morning on 26 May, a friend of mine, Ger Nee, who lives in Belcarra, Co Mayo, sent me a message with a phone photo of an unusual heron seen on a footbridge over the Manulla River in the village. The photo had been taken by a friend of hers, Lorraine Ryan Jennings, and as the photo was blurred, she was asking me what it was."

The first photo of the Yellow-crowned Night Heron in Belcarra (Lorraine Ryan Jennings).

 

News released

Jim continued: "It was clearly a Yellow-crowned Night Heron and I relayed this to her, at which stage she had already worked out the correct identification. I immediately posted the photo and details of the record on the Irish Rare and Scarce Birds WhatsApp group. We stayed in touch and Ger later sent me a much better video clip and a pin drop, all of which details were promptly released.

"She and some locals, plus a few visiting birders, searched for it during the day without success, but it was relocated that evening by a local man. Well-known birder, Eric Dempsey, was on site, saw it and released further details of the bird's whereabouts. The rest, as they say, is history!"

Since it was first reported on 26 May, the Yellow-crowned Night Heron has shown daily at Belcarra (Jeffrey Copner).

 

Western Palearctic mega

Since the first Western Palearctic record came to light in early 2011 (a subadult on Terceira, Azores, that had been present since at least July 2010), a further 11 records of Yellow-crowned Night Heron have been amassed across the region. Although nine of these come from the Azores, a potential British or Irish record has been on the cards – there was a Yellow-crowned Night Heron in mainland Portugal in May 2020.

Furthermore, the species shares its range with the already-recorded Little Blue Heron, which was well twitched in Co Galway in October 2008 and has occurred a handful of times in the Azores.

The timing and age of the Belcarra bird is interesting, particularly in light of local rumours that the bird has been present for some time (possibly months). Given previous regional records of this species involving long-staying immatures that have lingered until reaching maturity, it's possible that this individual arrived as a juvenile in a previous autumn and has already been present in Ireland for a long time, rather than having appeared recently. Either way, the bird proved extremely popular with twitchers from both Ireland and Britain, often giving stunning views down to only a few metres as it fed actively on crayfish. 

At the time of publication [Tuesday 4 June], the heron was still present.

The Yellow-crowned Night Heron has attracted birders from across Ireland and Britain (Brian McCloskey).

 

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