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Black-crowned Night Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron

Nycticorax nycticorax

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The Black-crowned Night Heron is a stocky, medium-sized heron with a black cap and back, pale grey wings and white underparts. Active mostly at dusk and at night, it breeds colonially in wetlands across Africa, Eurasia and the Americas. Its hunched, compact shape sets it apart from lankier day herons and egrets. Northern populations are migratory.

Did you know?

  • It sometimes “bait-fishes”, dropping objects on the water to lure fish.
  • During courtship its legs turn salmon-pink.

Voice

Call
Flight call

About the species

Identification

A medium-sized, compact heron with a short neck, black crown and back, grey wings and white face and underparts. The bill is black and the eye red; breeding adults have long white head plumes. Young birds are brown with large white spots and streaked below, looking quite different from adults.

Family

Ardeidae

Size

Large (crow)

Colours

grey, black, white, red

About the habitat

Fresh and saltwater wetlands – marshes, lakes, rivers, coasts and mangroves – as well as rice fields and reservoirs; it nests in colonies in trees, bushes or reedbeds near water.

Diet

Mainly small fish, crustaceans, frogs and insects, but highly opportunistic: also molluscs, worms, small reptiles and mammals, chicks and eggs of other birds and refuse.

Behaviour

Hunts mainly at night, dawn and dusk by standing still at the water's edge and ambushing prey; by day it rests hidden in dense trees or bushes. It breeds in noisy colonies, often with other herons, building stick platforms in trees or reedbeds. During courtship adults' legs turn pink and the long white head plumes are displayed.

Sources

Photo: ramidos, CC BY 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nycticorax nycticorax 457953189.jpg

Sound: Jan Cibulka, XC383999, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/383999

Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC1142547, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/1142547

Text: Wikipedia (English) + GBIF regional observations + Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0; GBIF occurrence data; Wikipedia: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-crowned_night_heron

See also