Black-crowned Night Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron

News: Recently, a juvenile black-crowned night heron, which landed recently at a local pond in Imphal and died later, was banded at the Weishan Bird Banding Station in China’s Beijing.

About:
• The Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) is a medium-sized heron found throughout a large part of the world.
• It is found across North America, as well as locally in Central America and the Caribbean.
• IUCN status – Least concern

Behaviour:
• They spend their days perched on tree limbs or concealed among foliage and branches. They forage in the evening and at night, in water, on mudflats, and on land.
• It is a migrating species.

Key characteristics:
• Adults have a black crown and back with the remainder of the body white or grey, red eyes, and short yellow legs. They have pale grey wings and white underparts.
• They are relatively stocky with shorter bills, legs, and necks than their more familiar cousins, the egrets and “day” herons.
• Their resting posture is normally somewhat hunched but when hunting they extend their necks and look more like other wading birds
• Females and males look alike, but females are a little smaller.