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Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) Alternate name(s): "Night Heron" German name(s): "Nachtreiher" Size: 58-65 cm; wing span 1.05-1.15 m Body mass: 600-800 g (male), 520-700 g (female) Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.41-0.45

Europe: Family Group 5 Family Group 5 Table Great Egret Little Egret Western Cattle Egret Grey Heron Purple Heron Striated Heron Black-crowned Night Heron Squacco Heron Green Heron Eurasian Bittern Little Bittern Eurasian Spoonbill Glossy Ibis White Stork Black Stork Greater Flamingo Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names German birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Black-crowned Night Herons are small, but long-legged herons. They have a creamy frons, creamy supercilia and throat, while the rest of the front is light-grey. The crown is blue-grey. The light-grey colour of their neck band extends to the nuchal plumes at the nape of the neck. The mantle is blue-grey, while the outer wing coverts and the flight feathers are grey. Their irises are brown. The strong bill is dark-grey, with yellowish-grey lores. The legs and feet are yellow to greyish-yellow, during courtship often pale-red. Second summer Black-crowned Night Herons still have some diffuse streaking on the front, some vermiculation on the wing coverts and the back is brownish-grey where adults are black. Juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons have more cryptic plumage than adults, with duller colours. Their front is light grey-brown, with some streaking on the sides of the neck. The crown and mantle are grey-brown, rather than blue-grey, and the wing feathers are grey-brown with a slightly scalloped pattern.

Taxonomy, classification See Black-crowned Night Heron at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Black-crowned Night Heron is available HERE . There are four different races of Black-crowned Night Herons, which are a global, partly migratory species. They are found on all continents, except Australia (where they are replaced by the similar Rufous [Nankeen] Night Heron) and Antarctica. The northern populations are migratory, while the southern populations, even in cold climates, are sedentary. Nominate race "nycticorax" is found permanently in most of Africa, except the Sahara desert and much of south-western Africa, along the north-western African coastal fringe, the Nile river catchment and on into the Sinai and via the Middle East to southern Asia Minor. There is a second permanent population on the Indian subcontinent and almost all of South-east Asia, up to southern China, and in southern-most South Korea and Japan. On some South-east Asian islands there are wintering populations only. During the northern summers these populations extend their breeding range into parts of southern to central Europe, temperate central Asia and into much of eastern China, all of the Korean peninsula and Japan. Surprisingly, there is a wintering population on Hokkaido, taking advantage of hot volcanic waters. The other three races are found in the Americas (for details see, e.g., Wikipedia ). In Europe Black-crowned Night Herons, race "nycticorax", are found only during the summers, as breeding migrants. Their distribution is patchy (for details see, e.g., Wikipedia ). They are found in parts of Iberia, southern and central France, the western half of Belgium and the border region to northern France, the lowlands of the river Po in northern Italy, in southern Sardinia, in the border region of Albania and Montenegro, in most of Greece (except the Pelopponesus) and along the northern coastline of the Black Sea and around most of the Caspian Sea. There is a separate inland population in the upper Danube river valley, in the border region between Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. Black-crowned Night Herons can be found in both freshwater habitats such as lakes, rivers, ponds, marshes and other types of wetlands, and saline water, e.g. along oceanic coastlines.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "nycticorax" D. Wilczynska reports spotting a Black-crowned Night Heron, nominate race "nycticorax", near Santa Giusta, Oristano, Sardinia, Italy, in June 2016. J. Pires reports spotting Black-crowned Night Herons, race "nycticorax", occasionally in the area from the Tejo estuary to Mora, Evora, Portugal. There, they are mostly found during the breeding season, but there have been sightings of both adult birds and juveniles in the months of November/December, suggesting that some birds may overwinter in the southern half of Portugual. Others were found at Badajoz, Spain, in June 2019, and along the Duero river, Zamora, Spain, in July 2022. A. Sarok reports finding a Black-crowned Night Heron, race "nycticorax", in Vojvodina, Serbia, in the timeframe 2010-2024. More photos shown below were obtained by P. Brown outside Europe.

Photos

Race "nycticorax"

ADULT

PAIR

Near-frontal/near-lateral view of a pair of Black-crowned Night Herons (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Raia river, Mora, Evora, Portugal, December 2022]

Sex unknown

Close-up frontal view of a resting Black-crowned Night Heron (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Badajoz, Badajoz province, Spain, June 2019]

Frontal view of an adult Black-crowned Night Heron (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Close-up near-frontal view of a resting Black-crowned Night Heron (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Badajoz, Badajoz province, Spain, June 2019]

Near-frontal view of a Black-crowned Night Heron (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Lateral portrait of a Black-crowned Night Heron (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Badajoz, Badajoz province, Spain, June 2019]

Lateral view of a Black-crowned Night Heron (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Near Oristano, western Sardinia, Italy, June 2016]

Lateral view of a Black-crowned Night Heron (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Lateral/ventral view of a Black-crowned Night Heron (photo courtesy of A. Sarok)
[Vojvodina, Serbia, date unknown]

Lateral/ventral view of a Black-crowned Night Heron (photo courtesy of A. Sarok)
[Vojvodina, Serbia, date unknown]

Dorsal view of a Black-crowned Night Heron (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Near-lateral view of a Black-crowned Night Heron in gliding flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, July 2019]

Lateral/ventral view of a Black-crowned Night Heron in flight (photo courtesy of A. Sarok)
[Vojvodina, Serbia, date unknown]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Dorsal view of an adult Black-crowned Night Heron, top, with a second-summer immature bird, bottom - note the young bird's brownish-grey upperparts where the adult is black (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, February 2017]

Lateral view of a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Raia river, Mora, Evora, Portugal, November 2022]

Lateral view of a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Raia river, Mora, Evora, Portugal, October 2022]

Lateral view of a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron looking for prey (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Raia river, Mora, Evora, Portugal, October 2022]

Near-dorsal view of a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Lateral view of a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron in flight, wings down (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, July 2019]

Lateral view of a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron in flight, wings up (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, July 2019]

Near-dorsal view of a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, July 2019]

Breeding information

Breeding season: Apr? - Oct?

Eggs: 3 - 5

Incubation period: 21 - 22 days

Fledging age: 42 - 49 days

Black-crowned Night Herons are colonial breeders. The timing of the breeding season depends on geographic latitude. In the southern parts of their breeding range Black-crowned Night Herons can have 2 broods per season.

Nest building: Male

Incubation: Female & male

Dependent care: Female & male

Nest

Type: Basket

Material: Sticks, rushes, reeds

Height above ground: ?

Frontal/ventral view of a Black-crowned Night Heron near its nest (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Frontal/ventral view of a preening Black-crowned Night Heron near its nest (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Black-crowned Night Heron of very different appearance in their nest (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Black-crowned Night Heron of very different appearance in their nest (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Eggs

Size: 50 x 37 mm

Colour: Matt light-grey

Shape: Elliptical

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Communal

Mobility: Migratory

Elementary unit: Solitary/flock

Striated Herons are summer breeding migrants to southern, south-eastern and parts of central Europe. They breed and roost in colonies.

Black-crowned Night Herons nest colonially and also use colonial roosts during the day (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Rio Duero, Zamora, Spain, July 2022]

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron using its camouflage cryptic plumage to hide in waterside vegetation
(photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, September 2019]

Food, Diet

All egrets and herons prey on aquatic creatures in fresh water or estuaries (fish, frogs, snakes or crustaceans).

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

nheron_jp_20201024.m4a

nycticorax (Portugal)

Contact calls(?)

© JP

More Black-crowned Night Heron sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

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