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5

Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) Alternate name(s): "Night Heron" Size: 58-65 cm; wing span 1.05-1.15 m Weight: 380-900 g

Oman: Family Group 5 Family Group 5 Table Great White Egret Intermediate Egret Cattle Egret Little Egret Western Reef Heron Purple Heron Grey Heron Striated Heron Squacco Heron Indian Pond Heron Black-crowned Night Heron Little Bittern African Sacred Ibis Glossy Ibis Eurasian Spoonbill White Stork Greater Flamingo Lesser Flamingo Thumbnails page Classification table Index of bird names Oman 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. 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 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 Arabia Black-crowned Night Herons are found as breeding migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. Their breeding range extends mostly around the coastal fringe, but they are also present in inland areas of Saudi Arabia, such as e.g. around Riyadh. In Oman Black-crowned Night Herons populate suitble wetlands in much of the coastal fringe, both along the North coast, from Musandam to Ras al-Hadd, and along parts of the West coast. Black-crowned Night Herons are usually found in well-vegetated wetlands around lakes, but also reedbeds and other dense vegetation along creeks and in swamps. Sometimes they are also found in wetlands with brackish and saline water, such as estuaries.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "nycticorax" We have not seen a Black-crowned Night Heron, race "nycticorax", in Oman yet. The photo shown below was taken in Egypt. All photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by M. Eaton. We have previously spotted a Black-crowned Night Heron, race "nycticorax", in Europe.

Photos

Race "nycticorax"

ADULT

Sex unknown

Three adult Black-crowned Night Herons with a juvenile (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[November 2017]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron, centre, with 3 adults (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[November 2017]

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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Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Wed, 26 January 2022, 0:45 +00:00