Black-crowned Night-Heron
From WikiBird
Contents |
Size
Length: 64cm (25in), Wingspan: ??cm (??in)
Field Marks
Fairly small, stocky, short-legged and short-necked heron. Bill medium-sized and pointed. Tucks neck in close to body in flight and at rest, rarely extending it. Adult: Red eyes, legs yellow. Black bill. Black crown and back. White face, throat, foreneck, chest and belly. Blue-gray wings. Two long, white, filamentous plumes extending from back of head in alternate plumage. Juvenile: Eyes yellowish to amber, legs dull greyish. Yellow base to bill. Brown head, neck, chest and belly streaked with buff and white. Wings and back darker brown with large white spots at the tips of the feathers; spots especially large on the greater secondary coverts. Immature: Acquires full adult plumage in its third year. First year birds are similar to juvenile, but have less extensive spotting on upperwings and a dark cap. Second year birds resemble the adult, but have a brown neck and wings contrasting with darker brown cap and back. Sexes similar.
Similar species
Adults are unmistakable. Immatures can be separated from American Bittern by pale spotting on the upperwing, lack of black neck spot, different shape, stouter bills and more even upperwing coloration in flight. Juvenile Yellow-crowned Night-Heron has smaller spots on greater secondary coverts, smaller spots on head and neck, thicker bill, and longer legs. Immature Black Crowns can show a variety of plumage characters so are best separated from immature Yellow-crowns by their smaller, thinner bill and shorter legs.
Sounds
Feeding & Behavior
These birds stand still at the water's edge and wait to ambush prey, mainly at night. They primarily eat small fish, crustaceans, frogs, aquatic insects, and small mammals. During the day they rest in trees or bushes.
Habitat & Nesting
Breeding habitat is fresh and salt-water wetlands. Nest in colonies on platforms of sticks in a group of trees, or on the ground in protected locations such as islands or reedbeds. 3-8 eggs are laid.
Range
Breeds throughout much of the world. The subspecies N. n. hoactli breeds in North and South America from Canada as far south as Patagonia, and the nominate race N. n. nycticorax in Europe, Asia and Africa. This heron is migratory outside the tropical parts of its extensive range, where it is a permanent resident. The North American population winters in Mexico, the southern United States, Central America, and the West Indies, and the Old World birds winter in tropical Africa and southern Asia.
Resources
