Black-crowned Night Heron

How to identify

Field marks

1. Head and occiput dark blue-gray with a slight metallic gloss
2. Usually 2–4 slender white feathers at the back of the head
3. Blood-red iris, black bill and yellow legs and feet
4. Black back, gray wings and white underparts

Male, female and young

Sexes similar in appearance, with the male slightly larger; immatures have gray-brown upperparts and scattered white spots on the wings.

Voice

Noisy in breeding colonies, with calls often rendered as “quok” or “woc”.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: May · Most records: United States, China, Canada

Black-crowned Night Heron has been recorded at 4,816 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 184 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Water RanchUnited States15,985 records
2. IRWD San Joaquin Marsh & Wildlife Sanctuary, IrvineUnited States12,448 records
3. Estero Llano Grande SP WBCUnited States12,401 records

Countries and regions with the most records

United StatesChinaCanadaIndiaSpainIsraelMexicoArgentina

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) or black-capped night heron, commonly shortened to just night heron in Eurasia, is a medium-sized heron found throughout a large part of the world, including parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. In Australasia it is replaced by the closely related Nankeen night heron (N. caledonicus), with which it has hybridised in the area of contact.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions