A Yellow-crowned Night-heron picked up and rejected a number of possible twigs for nesting material and spent some time just looking around.

Finally, the right stick was located…

and away he went.

I don’t normally include humans, but that’s my husband, Ted (tpjphoto.com), not getting an image of this flight. The photo also give you an idea of the rookery location and density, with the boardwalk running through the woods.

The heron continued on towards his nest, somewhere up in the trees.

Cypress Wetlands, Port Royal, SC
May 7, 2025

Correction March 28, 2026
I had these photos and post erroneously labeled as Black-crowned Night-heron.