Black-crowned Night Heron
The Black-crowned Night Heron, commonly shortened to just Night Heron in Eurasia, is a medium-sized heron. The adult is around 25 inches in length and has a black crown and back, pale grey wings and white underparts, red eyes and short yellow legs. Long white plumes which are erected in greeting and courtship displays extend from the back of the head. The sexes are similar in appearance although males are slightly larger than females. Immature birds have dull grey-brown plumage on their heads, wings and backs with numerous pale spots and the underparts are paler and streaked with brown. The eyes are orange and the legs dull yellowish-green.
The Black-crowned Night Heron does not fit the typical body form of the heron family. It is relatively stocky with a shorter bill, shorter legs and a shorter neck than other herons. Its resting posture is normally somewhat hunched but when hunting it extends its neck and looks more like other wading birds.
The Black-crowned Night Heron breeds in fresh and salt water wetlands throughout much of the world where it nests in colonies on platforms of sticks in a group of trees or on the ground in protected locations such as islands or reedbeds. It is migratory in the most northern part of its range but otherwise resident. The north American population winters in Mexico, south USA, central America and the West Indies whilst the Old World population winters in tropical Africa and south Asia.
There are 2 archaeological specimens of the Black-crowned Night Heron in the UK. The oldest is from the Roman London Wall and the more recent from the Royal Navy's late medieval yards in Greenwich. It may have bred in the far wetter and wilder landscape of pre-modern Britain. In modern times the Black-crowned Night Heron is a rare but increasing vagrant. Feral breeding colonies were established at Edinburgh Zoo from 1950 into the 21st century and at Great Witchingham in Norfolk where there were 8 pairs in 2003 although breeding was not repeated in 2004 or 2005. A pair of adults were seen with 2 recently fledged juveniles on the Somerset Levels in 2017 and this was the first proven breeding record of wild birds in the UK.
The Black-crowned Night Heron hunts by standing still at the water’s edge, especially at night or early morning. It primarily eats small fish, crustaceans, frogs, aquatic insects, small mammals and small birds. It is among the very few heron species observed to engage in bait fishing by luring or distracting fish by tossing edible or inedible buoyant objects in to the water within their striking range, a rare example of tool use among birds. During the day the Black-crowned Night Heron mainly rests in waterside trees or bushes.
Date: 22nd May 2018
Location: BSPB Poda Protected Area, Burgas Province, Bulgaria
The Black-crowned Night Heron does not fit the typical body form of the heron family. It is relatively stocky with a shorter bill, shorter legs and a shorter neck than other herons. Its resting posture is normally somewhat hunched but when hunting it extends its neck and looks more like other wading birds.
The Black-crowned Night Heron breeds in fresh and salt water wetlands throughout much of the world where it nests in colonies on platforms of sticks in a group of trees or on the ground in protected locations such as islands or reedbeds. It is migratory in the most northern part of its range but otherwise resident. The north American population winters in Mexico, south USA, central America and the West Indies whilst the Old World population winters in tropical Africa and south Asia.
There are 2 archaeological specimens of the Black-crowned Night Heron in the UK. The oldest is from the Roman London Wall and the more recent from the Royal Navy's late medieval yards in Greenwich. It may have bred in the far wetter and wilder landscape of pre-modern Britain. In modern times the Black-crowned Night Heron is a rare but increasing vagrant. Feral breeding colonies were established at Edinburgh Zoo from 1950 into the 21st century and at Great Witchingham in Norfolk where there were 8 pairs in 2003 although breeding was not repeated in 2004 or 2005. A pair of adults were seen with 2 recently fledged juveniles on the Somerset Levels in 2017 and this was the first proven breeding record of wild birds in the UK.
The Black-crowned Night Heron hunts by standing still at the water’s edge, especially at night or early morning. It primarily eats small fish, crustaceans, frogs, aquatic insects, small mammals and small birds. It is among the very few heron species observed to engage in bait fishing by luring or distracting fish by tossing edible or inedible buoyant objects in to the water within their striking range, a rare example of tool use among birds. During the day the Black-crowned Night Heron mainly rests in waterside trees or bushes.
Date: 22nd May 2018
Location: BSPB Poda Protected Area, Burgas Province, Bulgaria
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Also in: Bulgaria
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