#night herons

[spinus-pinus]

Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax

7/8/2023 San Diego Zoo Safari Park, California

[antiqueanimals]

Wings Along the Waterway. Written and illustrated by Mary Barrett Brown. 1992.

Internet Archive

[na-bird-of-the-day]

BOTD: Black-crowned Night-Heron

Photo: Brandon Trentler

"Seen by day, these chunky herons seem dull and lethargic, with groups sitting hunched and motionless in trees near water. They become more active at dusk, flying out to foraging sites, calling 'wok' as they pass high overhead in the darkness. Some studies suggest that they feed at night because they are dominated by other herons and egrets by day. A cosmopolitan species, nesting on every continent except Australia and Antarctica."

- Audubon Field Guide

[rjzimmerman]

This article tells us that the environmental review of the project was conducted by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Based on my experience with the IDNR, any species that was to be protected was doomed once the IDNR got involved. That department is as corrupt as any in Illinois, if not more so because it’s generally hiding in the bushes. Of course the IDNR was going to take care of the corporation owning and operating the Chicago History Museum and the construction companies that were going to construct the renovations.

Congratulations Chicago and Illinois. You’ve proven you’re as corrupt as the news media says you are.

Excerpt from this story from the National Geographic:

In 2021, the museum broke ground on an effort to modernize its shaded lawns. The project included the construction of a walking trail with signs highlighting Chicago history, the installation of native plantings, and the reinforcement of the ceiling above its leaky underground archives. The work was designed, in part, to make the space a more attractive venue for high-dollar events like weddings and fundraisers.

The area, however, was also adjacent to a long-standing breeding ground for at least 45 pairs of black-crowned night herons, which are listed as endangered in the state of Illinois. Museum officials were not only aware of the herons, staff and visitors even enjoyed having an endangered bird’s rookery on the museum’s grounds.

“The birds had been around for a while,” John Russick, senior vice president of the museum, told National Geographic. “It was kind of cool that they were here.”

Yet museum officials appeared to minimize possible damage to the birds’ rookery that a major construction project would cause. Based on the museum’s limited assessment of the birds, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources conducted a brief environmental review and found the renovation posed little risk of disruption to the herons. Teams of workers arrived in March of 2021, just before the herons’ annual springtime nesting season. The crews operated loud equipment at times only a few yards from the rookery.

Soon after, the birds abandoned their nests. Weeks later, crows were seen scavenging on dead nestlings. In 2022, a handful of male herons returned to the site, but after failing to attract mates, they left.

[loudlylovingreview]

Derrick Z. Jackson: Care for Endangered Seabirds Continues Amid a 51-Year Legacy of Optimism

Steve Kress’s smile lit up the dusk as research assistants at least 50 years younger than him regaled him with tales of their vigilance to save tern chicks on Stratton Island, Maine. For an hour, all talk centered around a mortal enemy of tern chicks: the black-crowned night heron. The latter is a beautiful, stocky wetland bird with glowing red eyes and two delicate white plumes shooting out the…

[saessenach]

Obsessed how in Ghibli films, you can never go back to the magical world you've visited - the gate closes, the era ends and we will never be who we once were during the adventure! And that's life, it just goes on

And in this one too, Mahito leaves the tower and it crumbles behind him, but he can still remember? In this one, he carries the memento with him, not unlike Chihiro and her charmed hair-tie, but it's framed in this kind way - 'You're not supposed to remember, and you must forget, but you can carry it with you for a while yet' and this gentleness absolutely fucking ruins me.

[birdblues]

Black-crowned Night Heron

[acapricorncreature]

Just a couple horse girls watching complete strangers play a game in the Whirling in Rags 😇

Since you guys liked my other Disco Elysium x Night in the Woods crossover fanart, I decided to draw another scene. I really wanted to draw Jean in his disguise, so here we are.

I HAD to include the neon signage, so I took some creative liberties.

[swantranslations]

Miyazaki's Retirement Declarations (chronologically)

Translated from last week's NHK documentary on the production of The Boy and The Heron (more under cut). I saw people posting a screencap of this and I just couldn't contain myself. THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON WAY LONGER THAN I IMAGINED LMFAO

This is from the NHK programme "Professional - Their Working Philosophy" (プロフェッショナル 仕事の流儀) a few days ago (16/12/2023). The episode investigates the production process of The Boy and the Huron, and how the late Takahata Isao influenced the movie.

(It was confirmed within the documentary that Mahito = Miyazaki, Great Uncle = Takahata Isao, The Heron = Suzuki Toshio, Kiriko = Yasuda Michiyo)

The documentary is currently available on the NHK Streaming Service (Location Limited). If you have your own ways of watching and you know Japanese, I would definitely recommend the episode as it gives a lot of much-needed context to The Boy and The Heron. Personally, I haven't found a way to watch it yet, so all I know about the documentary are hearsay I saw on Japanese twitter.

Original screencap:

Also, at the very end of the episode, Miyazaki was shown working on a Naucicaa piece without any explanation, which led to many people speculating whether he could be working on a sequel for Naucicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

What do yall think? Do you think he's going to finally retire or release yet another animated film in a few years? I would love to see Naucicaa 2 but I also feel like he really needs to... yknow, chillax a bit and stuff. He deserves a long ass vacation.

[northernpintail]

Black-crowned Night Heron

[spinus-pinus]

Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax

7/8/2023 San Diego Zoo Safari Park, California

[antiqueanimals]

Wings Along the Waterway. Written and illustrated by Mary Barrett Brown. 1992.

Internet Archive

[brooklynbridgebirds]

Black-crowned Night-Herons roosting in staghorn sumac over a small pond in Brooklyn Bridge Park! There are 7 of these living dinosaurs there now, maybe more to come? 🦖🦕😁

[boy-warbler]

A local swamp penguin. Black-crowned Night Heron at Evergreen Brickworks

[herpsandbirds]

Japanese Night Heron (Gorsachius goisagi), family Ardeidae, order Pelicaniformes, Tokyo, Japan

photographs by Takanori Suzuki

[admiralgiggles]

There has to be something in the water here because there were easily a dozen of these guys.