Stephanie Mahon, St. Patrick School
Morris County
Black-crowned Night Heron
Zoom+ Black-crowned night heron. Stephanie Mahon
I’m a black-crowned night heron with my beautiful, long, yellow legs and my long, silky, dark blue feather on my back. I’m a stocky bird that looks as if I’m hunched over; my head is tucked into my shoulders. My feathers are gray and white with a black cap. My feathers extend from the back of my head. I can reach up to lengths of 23-28 inches with a wing span of 45 inches. Also, my weight can reach up to two pounds. I feed in marshes and along the edges of ponds and creeks. My aquatic homes include mountain streams, lowland ponds and estuaries, agricultural farms, and suburban/urban waterways. My main diet is squid, crustaceans, aquatic insects, frogs, snakes, birds, rodents, and carrion but, I pursue terrestrial insects, leeches, earthworms, mollusks, toads, tadpoles, salamanders, lizards, eggs, and young of other birds.
My family is ending! Dogs, rats, feral cats, the small mongoose, cattle egrets, and barn owls all prey on adults and young in my family. If I could talk I would say to put tags on us so you humans can watch where we are. If the mean animals get to close to us, the humans nearby us will save us. Hooray! Oh, I just remembered two more reason why my family is going extinct. All the plants are taking up my space around my house. If I could fix this I would cut down a lot of the plants, and plant them somewhere else where it won’t bother us birds. Also, the pesticide DDT has harmed us and our eggs. Don’t use that pesticide because it poisons us and other animals around the area. Humans save us please!
Written by: Stephanie Mahon
St. Patrick School
Chatham, NJ
Teacher: Mrs. Butkus