Heron (Black-crowned Night)

Black-crowned Night-Herons do not fit the typical body form of the heron family. They are relatively stocky with shorter bills, legs and necks than their more familiar cousins the egrets and "day" herons.

Their resting posture is normally somewhat hunched but when hunting they extend their necks and look more like other wading birds.

Adult Black-crowned Night-Herons have black caps and backs, pale grey wings, white under parts, red eyes and yellow legs. Two or three long white plumes, erected in greeting and courtship displays, extend from the back of the head.

Photographed at Reid Zoo, Tucson, AZ
and in the wild in Etobicoke, ON
and at Black River, Jamaica