Night-herons are undeniably neat creatures. I first came across them during trips to Florida when I was a grad student and assisting with a course called Ecology of the Everglades. I had a tough time picking which I liked better, the Yellow-crowned or Black-crowned. Typically, the one I’m currently looking at is my favorite. It’s interesting that they seem to prefer slightly different habitats. Of the two, black-crowneds are more likely to be found in Michigan and Ohio. My wife and I used to go on birding dates and often came across them roosting in the Shaker Lakes are of Cleveland, Ohio.
I took photos of this cooperative Yellow-crowned Night Heron at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island in Florida. It was napping most of the time and would occasionally open up an eye and preen some pin feathers, then go back to napping. I was amazed at how dusty this guy was with all the feather crumbles from molting. He had the worst case of bird dandruff imaginable. If he were going to hang with the glamorous crowd, he needed some Selsun Blue, Denorex, Tegrin, Head and Shoulders or better yet, some T-gel. Sadly, the shampoo industry doesn’t seem to market to birds. While this seems unfair, it isn’t without reason. As always, it all comes down to money. While the birds posses a great need of dandruff shampoo, they lack a rather important thing: pockets. Without pockets they have no place to keep money. No money, no dandruff shampoo. No dandruff shampoo, no glamor. They are just skin-flake-ridden pariahs of the animal world, and sadly, those black and dark gray feathers show it off all too well. Those snobbish egrets have it so easy. Their white never shows the dandruff.
Okay, so birds also lack opposable thumbs to handle money, making that three things they are lacking. Pockets, money and thumbs. But they definitely have dandruff. I wonder if they have bad breath too? I’d imagine the vultures do. Too bad. They are just going to have to live with it, because they don’t have pockets.
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