The Black Crowned Night Heron on Nantucket
A ‘Wok’ on the Wild Side
By Kenneth Turner Blackshaw
My grandmother always called them ‘Woks.’ “There goes a ‘Wok,’” she would say, and I learned to play back the tape in my mind and think of the harsh sound we had just heard. We lived at 3 Chestnut Street then and we’d hear them flying over as it was getting dark in the evening.
It was many years before I was able to actually associate the bird with that sound. My mother had a black and white drawing, done by Ruth Haviland Sutton, showing some different-looking, black and white birds, standing in the cattails near a wooden bridge with white railings. As I entered my early teens, I found these were Black-crowned Night-Herons and their call was one of the first I learned.
Riding my bike out Madaket Road, I’d find them posed like sentinels along the edge of the rushes on Long Pond, near the First Bridge. These birds are part of the heron family, but night-herons are different than the typical heron. As the name indicates, they favor darkness. Actually ‘crepuscular’ is the word that describes their habits, meaning a creature that is most active in the twilight. During the day, they often are seen resting at the edge of the marsh.
Linnaeus himself, gave them their Latin name, Nycticorax nycticorax, which translates to ‘night crow.’ It’s possible that the ‘wok’ call reminded him of a crow going over. It also gives us a clue to the worldwide distribution of this species. Carl Linnaeus, who developed the scientific naming system for all life forms back in the 1700’s, lived in Europe. So, Black-crowned Night-Herons are not just found here. They are among the most widespread of birds, being found on all continents except Australia and Antarctica.
Nantucket’s earliest records for this bird go back to William Brewster’s notes from 1874 where he refers to 100 pairs nesting near the north head of Long Pond. Edith Andrews found only 25 to 30 pairs when researching for her 1948 book, and that number seems to have persisted today. There is also a rookery in the Quaise area.
However this is nothing compared with the numbers of night-herons found in the Sandy Neck nesting area over on the Cape, which has been estimated at 2,000 pairs. This rookery has been studied for over 100 years, and the birds have persisted, even though they were ’shot out’ several times by local ’sportsmen.’ Unfortunately, we have the words of John James Audubon himself, who pointed out that, “The young are quite as good for eating as those of the common pigeon, being tender, juicy, and fat, with very little of the fishy taste of many birds which, like them, feed on fishes and reptiles.” I must confess, I would never have thought this to be a game bird until I started researching this article!
In flight, these birds do not make you think of herons. Actually we’ve had them reported as owls. Nantucket birders scurried to the Stop & Shop parking lot late one fall, looking for the flock of owls reported flying toward the cricks near sunset. In actuality, these turned out to be our Black-crowned Night-Herons. Their round-shouldered, rowing flight had made the observer think of an owl. In flight, they seem crow-sized. With binoculars, you see the rounded gray wings contrasting with the black back and top of head. They are white underneath. However, a young night-heron is a horse of a different color Ð streaked brown. As such, it can be easily confused with other brown birds of the swamp, a bittern for example. So, it is best to learn the young birds by the company they keep.
Andrews and Blackshaw’s “Birding Nantucket” shows this species to be common in the summer and rare throughout the winter. Looking at Christmas Bird Count data, we see an interesting cyclical pattern. Almost never seen before 1968, then we have a recurring five to seven year pattern with as many as 78 birds seen in 1975. More recently, winter numbers have been low, under ten individuals.
So, if you are in town at dusk, listen for the ‘Wok’ call overhead. Depending on tide, night-herons like to hunt the edges of Nantucket Harbor. They fly there from their daytime hiding places. A favorite spot is the rocky bed, only exposed at low tide, just south of Steamboat Wharf. If you can dodge the passing ferry activity, perhaps you will be rewarded with a ‘Wok’ on the wild side.
Ken Blackshaw is the author of more than ten books focusing mainly on natural history subjects. He writes the weekly bird column for the Nantucket Independent, and has just published Volume Three of his “A Year of Birding Nantucket” series.
George C. West creates illustrations for these articles.
Check out the ‘Birding Nantucket’ series at: http://k-blackshaw.com/BN/BN.htm
Originally published in the Nantucket Independent, June 11, 2004
Add comment July 9, 2009
Nantucket Restaurants Open Summer 2009
Here’s a list of restaurants open for the summer. Click anywhere on the list to download a printable pdf version, and for take-out options. Thanks to Nantucket Visitor Services, especially David Sharpe, for providing the most current restaurant list. Please report changes or errors to David Sharpe at Visitor Services at 228-0925. For last minute guest room availability, call Visitor Services at 228-0925.
Add comment July 9, 2009
Nantucket Film Fest Opening Night Party
The Nantucket Film Festival Opening Night Party took place at the Chanticleer immediatelyafter the opening film at the Casino, “Cold Souls”. Some of the people we saw there: Katherine Kay, Nancy Thayer, Mike and Charlotte Jehle, Jack & Anne Curlett, Hazel Fleming, Bill Frederick, Susan & Larry Levine, Susan & Howard Bloom, Jeniffer Blum, Anne Chaison, Jonathon Burkhart, Michael Kopko, Jesse & Billy Voss, Marietta Hale, Jessica Garner, Susan Galvani, Mark Hsu, Nancy Thayer, Melissa Murphy, Natalie Ciminero, Christine Malia, Jason Briggs, Ivey Day, Suzanne Lewis, Justin Levitas, Kirby Hosea, Brandon Rohwer, Lauren Hall, Jennifer DiMartino, Lisa Frazar, Paul Giamatti, Michael Kopko, Anna & John Shaw, Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor, Elle Christy, Deanna Chandonnet, Scott Leonard, Christina Samone, Charlene Kelly, Jennifer Boysen, Rick James, Christina Dirossos, Josie Williams, Amy Bicikler, Hans Dalgaard, Kevin Flynn, Keith War, Melanie & Mike Hajjar, Cheryl Fudge, Gabriel Gould, Tom Scott, Kate Brosnan, Dagmar Klein, Dave Murphy, and Katie McGrath. Photos by Gene Mahon, assisted by Amanda Morgan. More photos online. See also Plum TV’s coverage of the opening night.
Add comment July 6, 2009
Nantucket Comedy Festival Update
The second annual Nantucket Comedy Festival will run from Tuesday, July 28th through Saturday, August 1st, The festival, created and produced by long time local residents and comedians Kevin Flynn and Bonnie Block Levison, was developed to bring top comedic performance to the Island in support of A Safe Place, The Nantucket Arts Council, The Nantucket New School, and The Community Foundation for Nantucket.
Thursday, July 31st: “Fortune’s Funny Money”, an evening of interviews and comedy sponsored by Fortune Magazine and hosted by Fortune Magazine Editor, Andy Serwer and Andy Borowitz of the Borowitz Report.
Friday, August 1st: A night with former Letterman head writers, including favorite bits from the writers’ years of working on The David Letterman Sho, hosted by Harry Smith.
Saturday, August 2nd: Second annual New York Versus Boston All-Star Comedy Smack Down and Gala, and the presentation of the “Man from Nantucket” award, hosted by MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and festival organizer and comedian, Kevin Flynn.
Other shows throughout the week will include an evening with popular comic Jim Gaffigan, a special performance by Tony award-winning actress Judith Ivey playing Ann Landers in “The Lady With All The Answers”, children’s shows featuring professional teen comics, and performances by well-known comedians including Mike Birbiglia, Corey Kahaney, and Tom Cotter.
Tickets for the Nantucket Comedy Festival can be purchased at www.nantucketcomedyfestival.com. The week of the festival, tickets can be purchased at the festival tent, which will be located at the Green Hound bus depot. Ticket prices vary for each event. For more information go to www.nantucketcomedyfestival.com.
Add comment July 6, 2009
