Hi: My wife and I and two friends were biking the Holmes County Rail
Trail between Millersburg and Killbuck this morning, May 20, 2011.
The trail runs through a wooded swamp along Killbuck Creek about 10
miles south of the Killbuck Wildlife Area. About 11:15am, my wife,
Sandra, spotted a night heron perched in a large tree about 100ft
west of the trail. Close observation clearly showed it to be an adult
yellow-crowned night heron. We watched it closely for 5-10 minutes
and it never moved. We were able to see the facial pattern and
yellowish-white crown clearly. There were reports of yellow-crowned
night heron attempting to nest in the KWA in 2006, so perhaps this
may be another nesting attempt. Our friend, Jeanne Durkalski
photographed the bird with a small digital camera and the photo,
though fuzzy, is adequate for ID. It is attached to this message. As
we biked back towards Millersburg about an hour later, we relocated
the bird on the same branch and watched it again.

This paved rail trail can be accessed in Millersburg and Killbuck and
parallels Rt 62 in that area. There are mile-markers painted on the
pavement. The bird was located between Twp Rd 92 and Twp Rd 91, less
than 0.1mi north of mile marker 13, west of the trail. There are some
fresh asphalt patches along the trail. The bird was located just
south of the first fresh asphalt patch north of mile marker 13. It
was perched high in a large tree located about 100ft west of the
trail in a flooded, wooded swamp.

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