Black-crowned night heron
Scientific name: Nycticorax nycticorax
- How weight is recorded: Whole weight
Field notes
Appearance
Stocky, compact heron with a black crown and back, white underparts, and pale grey wings. Adults have two long white plumes extending from the crown during breeding season. Eyes are red to orange-red, and legs are yellowish to greenish.
Size and weight
Weight 600–1,050 g; length 58–66 cm. Sexes similar in size, though males average slightly larger.
Habitat
Black-crowned night herons inhabit freshwater and brackish wetlands including marshes, swamps, lakeshores, and river valleys with dense emergent vegetation or overhanging trees for roosting and nesting.
Distribution
Found across the Americas from southern Canada to Argentina, Eurasia, and Africa. Favours inland and coastal wetlands, typically at low elevations but ranging up to 2,000 m in some regions.
Diet
Primarily small fish, but also takes crustaceans, frogs, aquatic insects, and occasionally small mammals; diet shifts toward available aquatic prey seasonally.
Behaviour
Strictly nocturnal and crepuscular forager, spending daylight hours roosting in dense vegetation or trees, often in small colonies. Solitary or loosely gregarious when feeding; primarily walk-and-wait hunters in shallow water.
Hunting tips
Search shallow wetland margins and channels at dusk and night when birds move to feeding areas; look for tracks and droppings on mud banks and roosting sites. Approach slowly through shallow water or reed beds, using cover to within range. Work into the wind and avoid sudden movements; birds are alert but often remain motionless until flushed.
Whole weight
This species is logged by whole weight — the animal weighed entire, as taken.
Where it is hunted
Listed as huntable in 1 country in Huntify.
Names in other languages
Current language: en
These field notes are general species knowledge, not legal advice. Always check the current seasons, quotas and firearm rules where you hunt.