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Black-crowned Night-Heron

Nycticorax nycticoraxOrder: CICONIIFORMESFamily: Bitterns, Herons and Egrets (Ardeidae)
Black-crowned-Night Heron Head Illustration

Head

  • Bill Shape: Dagger
  • Eye Color: Grayish olive in hatchlings, soon changing to yellow, deepening to orange, and then becoming bright red at maturity.
  • Head Pattern: Capped, Crested or plumed, Eyering (complete or broken), Special (unique patterns or features)
  • Crown Color: Black with long white plumes.
  • Forehead Color: White
  • Nape Color: Black
  • Throat Color: White
  • Cere color: No Data
Black-crowned Night-Heron Body Illustration

Body

  • Length Range: 64-71 cm (25-28 in)
  • Weight: 862 g (30.4 oz)
  • Size: Size 4. Large (16 - 32 in)
  • Color: White, Black, Gray
  • Underparts: White
  • Upperparts: Black
  • Back Pattern: Solid
  • Belly Pattern: Solid
  • Breast Pattern: Solid
Black-crowned Night-Heron Flight Illustration

Flight

  • Flight Pattern: Direct flight with slow steady wing beats.
  • Wingspan Range: 112-114 cm (44-45 in)
  • Wing Shape: Pointed-Wings
  • Tail Shape: Squared Tail
  • Tail Pattern: Solid
  • Upper Tail: Gray
  • Under Tail: Gray
  • Leg Color: Yellow
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Family Herons and Egrets (Ardeidae)_blue
Species Nycticorax nycticorax
Length25 - 28 Inches
Wingspan44.5 Inches

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Black-crowned Night-Heron: Medium-sized, stocky heron with short neck and legs, black upperparts, gray wings, and white to pale gray underparts. Stout black bill, red eyes, and yellow legs. Feeds on small invertebrates, crustaceans, vertebrates, mammals, eggs and young of other birds, and plants.

● Song: "woe", "quock", "quaik"

● Foraging & Feeding: Black-crowned Night-Heron: Usually feeds in the evening or early morning. Diet consists of fish, leeches, earthworms, insects, crayfish, mussels, squid, amphibians, lizards, snakes, rodents, birds, eggs, carrion, plant materials, and garbage at landfills. Usually a solitary forager, it strongly defends its feeding territory.

● Breeding & nesting: Black-crowned Night-Heron: One to seven pale blue or green eggs are laid in a flimsy platform lined with roots and grass, built near the trunk of a tree or in branches. Usually nests in colonies. Incubation ranges from 21 to 26 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: Black-crowned Night-Heron: Adult is unmistakable; immature may be confused with American Bittern or juvenile Yellow-crowned Night-Heron. American Bittern lacks pale spots on upperwing, has black neck stripe, and more slender, paler bill. Juvenile Yellow-crowned Night-Heron has smaller spots on greater secondary coverts, smaller spots on head and neck, thicker bill, and longer legs.

Flight Pattern

Direct flight with slow steady wing beats.
Black-crowned Night-Heron Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Black-crowned Night-Heron: Breeds throughout the U.S. (except Rocky Mountain region) to southern South America. Spends winters in southern half of U.S. Preferred habitats include swamps, streams, rivers, marshes, mud flats, and the edges of lakes that have become overgrown with rushes and cattails.
BreedingMonogamous, Colonial
PopulationStable or increasing in most areas
MigrationMigratory
Weight30.4 Ounces