The Black-crowned Night Heron is a species of heron with a relatively widespread range. They are found in Eurasia (where there are simply known as Night Herons) as well as the Americas and Africa.
Black-crowned Night Herons are found in a variety of wetland habitats, from fresh water to brackish and salt water. They feed in shallow water and typically roost in trees close to their feeding habitat. Depending on the location, some birds are migratory, while other are year-round residents.
Black-crowned Night Herons have plumage of black (crown and back), grey, and white. These stocky birds have short yellow legs and red eyes.
The Black-crowned Night Heron is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2012 by BirdLife International. This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is very large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
If you think our Birdorable birds are cute as adults, what about when they are babies? Below are some baby photos of the Black-crowned Night-Heron. Black-crowned Night-Herons are colonial nesters, building their nests in trees in close proximity to other herons, egrets, and ibises. Incubation... Read more »
