All birds/Ardeidae/Black-crowned Night Heron
AI reconstruction of Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)AI

AI reconstruction created with Nano Banana 2 · 1K, grounded in the profile’s documented taxonomy, habitat, natural-history sources, and an open-license visual reference when available. It is an interpretive image, not documentary evidence. Image policy

Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)
Verified source photographKyle NessenCC0 · View source
PRB-0194Pelecaniformes

Black-crowned Night Heron

Yaboa Real

Nycticorax nycticorax

Native / natural occurrenceIUCN LC · Least Concern

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 Europe, Asia, 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.

FamilyArdeidaeHerons, Egrets, and Bitterns
Puerto Rico occurrenceNative / natural occurrenceAvibase inferred core 380
Primary habitatwetlandsWetland
Primary dietCarnivoreAquatic predator
Average mass779.425 gGlobal trait estimate
MovementMigratory; Long-distance dispersal; Sedentary / residentTerrestrial

Sound archive

Hear its voice

Explore real songs and calls. The spectrogram turns each sound into a visual trace of time and frequency.

XC1070309Recording 1 of 3nocturnal flight call
Spectrogram of Black-crowned Night Heron: nocturnal flight call
SpectrogramNycticorax nycticorax

Play: nocturnal flight call by Vandousselaere Patrick

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Sound recorded by Vandousselaere Patrick · XC1070309 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Visualization by Stichting Xeno-canto voor Natuurgeluiden.

Every recording retains the creator, catalogue number, and license published by Xeno-canto. Metadata via GBIF

Island profile

Catalog scopeAvibase inferred core 380

About the Black-crowned Night Heron

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 Europe, Asia, 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.

Conservation

Least Concern

IUCN LC

Global IUCN
LC
Puerto Rico DNER
No current listing in source crosswalk
Federal ESA
No current listing in source crosswalk
Critical habitat
Not identified in source crosswalk

Natural history

How it lives

Habitat
wetlands
Elevation
0–4816 m
Nest
Platform · Ground; Rock; Shrub / bush / vine; Tree
Clutch
1–8 eggs
Social behavior
Colonial

Keep exploring

This bird belongs to 4 paths through the atlas.

Evidence trail

Sources, media & further reading