Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (Nyctanassa violacea)

Abundance: Very Uncommon during spring, summer, and early fall; records in 10 Regional counties, 3 in Kentucky and 7 in Tennessee (Map of UCR Distribution); data are too few to determine a trend in the Regional population (see also Regional Bird-Monitoring Plan).

Status: Summer Resident; designated as threatened by the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission (2004); photograph (Stephen J. Stedman; Burgess Falls State Natural Area, Putnam County, Tennessee; 26 June 2002).

Regional High Count: several (June 1991; Putnam County, Tennessee; Roy C. Phillips et al.; Stedman 1993); several young in 2 nests also present.

Information on Earliest Record of Occurrence in Each County: 

24/25 April 1965 (1—age unspecified) site unspecified, Putnam County, Tennessee (observer unspecified; Anonymous 1965a), a Spring Bird Count record.

7/8 May 1966 (2—age unspecified) site unspecified, Cumberland County, Tennessee (observer unspecified; Anonymous 1966a), a Spring Bird Count record.

July and August 1974 (1–2—probable pair) Cane Creek, Fall Creek Falls State Resort Park and Natural Area, Van Buren County, Tennessee (David F. Vogt. pers. com.).

30 May 1982 (2—age unspecified) Great Falls below dam on Caney Fork River, Rock Island State Park, Warren and White counties, Tennessee (Michael L. Bierly [field card], Claude W. Brown; Stedman 1986c), a TOS Foray [unpubl.] record.

9 July 1984 (2—1 adult and 1 immature) South Fork Creek, Barren County, Kentucky (Wayne M. Mason; Stamm 1984d).

6 June 1993 (1—adult) near Coalfield, Morgan County, Tennessee (Stephen J. Stedman; Knight 1993b), a Breeding Bird Survey record.

9 May 2000 (2—probable immatures [F. Renfrow, pers. com.]) along Cumberland River below Wolf Creek Dam, Kendall Recreation Area, Russell County, Kentucky (Frank Renfro; Busroe 2000c).

22 May 2009 (2—adults, probably a pair) Green River Wildlife Management Area, Adair County, Kentucky (Derek Coomer photo).

22 August 2011 (1—calling at night) Edgar Evins State Park, DeKalb County, Tennessee (Andrew Thornton, a Florida birder), an eBird record.

Regional Extreme Dates:

    Early Spring: 26 March 2003 (Putnam County, Tennessee; Stephen J. Stedman; Casteel 2003c).

    Late Fall: 9 October 2004 (Putnam  County, Tennessee; Van Harris, Michael J. Hawkins, Carol D. Williams photo; Casteel 2005a).

Breeding: Confirmed (Recent): Nests have been found at 2 sites in Putnam County, Tennessee: southern Algood (1991 [Stedman 1993]); and Burgess Falls State Natural Area (2002 [Casteel 2002c] and 2003).  The presence of an immature in July in Barren County, Kentucky (Stamm 1984d), suggests breeding at that site. The periodic appearance of adults below the dam in Rock Island State Park, Warren and White counties, Tennessee, since at least 1982 (Stedman 1986c) strongly suggests breeding has taken place at that site.  The appearance of 2 immature Yellow-crowns in May in Russell County, Kentucky, at most indicates possible breeding at that site.  The lone sightings of this night-heron in Cumberland and Morgan counties, Tennessee, make judgments about breeding at those sites imprudent.

Habitat: Usually found along rivers with rocky bottoms where crayfish are plentiful (e.g., Falling Water River below the dam at Burgess Falls State Natural Area, Putnam and White counties, Tennessee; Caney Fork River below the dam at Rock Island State Park, Warren and White counties, Tennessee; and Cumberland River below Wolf Creek Dam at Kendall Recreation Area), but may occur in other habitats (as near Algood, Putnam County, Tennessee, where various swamps and marshes provided foraging habitat for Yellow-crowns).

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: No registrations.

Foray Results: A summary of data from UCR Forays follows (to view a map displaying foray data for a county or a sub-Region for this species, click on the name of an underlined county or state below):

* Because some foray blocks fall into two or three counties, the total of blocks in the Kentucky or Tennessee portions of the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the counties of each portion of the Region; similarly, because some blocks fall into both states, the total of blocks for the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the two states.

Remarks: A somewhat secretive species that prefers habitat often inaccessible to human observers, the Yellow-crown is probably a somewhat more widely distributed breeder than the available data indicate.

Check-lists of Birds for the Counties of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of each county of the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed by clicking on the links below. For each county, there are two check-lists: one list that shows the species that have been observed and where possible documented in the county within the larger list for the entire Region; and one list that includes only the species observed in the county with annotations for the date and observers for at least one sighting (the ultimate goal of the latter list will be to include annotations for the very first known Regional observation of each species in that county; this goal is probably one that will take many years to complete, if completion is even a possibility). To see if the species discussed in this species account has been observed in a county, click below or click on the link for the Map of UCR Distribution near the top of the page.

Check-lists of Birds for Some Public Access Birding Sites of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of some public access birding sites within the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed via the links below. To see if the species dealt with in this species account has been observed within any of these sites, click on the appropriate link below. See the pages for each county within the Gazetteer for links to additional smaller public access birding sites with check-lists in progress.

Literature Cited