EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Daytime for Night-Heron

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (Nyctanassa violacea pauper), Family Ardeidae
Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

Explanation:  Commonly nocturnal is this colorful species of heron -- the Yellow-crowned Night-Heron.  But here in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador, species' ecologies sometimes get turned upside down.  

Yellow-crowned Night-Herons are found throughout eastern and southeastern U.S., much of coastal Mexico and Central America, and northern coastal South America.  They are also found on most of the Galapagos Islands, where they are solitary nesters.  

In the main photo above, this individual is eyeing potential dinner, as here on the islands they prey  largely on crabs, as well as on other invertebrates and insects ... but mostly after dark.  At night, the herons can be found under streetlights where they also feed on large painted locusts (Schistocera melanocera) that are attracted to the light.
  

Not at all threatened, Yellow-crowned Night-Herons are more 
secretive than some other herons.
I photographed this specimen along the rocky shoals
of Punta Suarez on Espanola Island.
  

Pictured in this week's EPOW episode is the endemic
subspecies pauper, found only on the Galapagos Islands.
Here, they are associated mainly with coastlines
where they nest near the ground within
mangroves or among rocky areas.